LWD: Some Things Were Meant To Be
by BigDaddyThaddy
Summary: When Casey and Derek both wish that their parents had never met, they wake to find it's come true. However, their dream lives are more a nightmare when they find their families are a sad mess. It's time they learned some things were meant to be. DASEY!
1. Prologue

_**Some Things Were Meant To Be**_

o_Prologue_o

In the two years leading up to the beginning of their senior year, Derek and Casey had not moved past pointless, loud, mean fights. Everybody who lived in the Venturi/MacDonald household had gotten used to the screaming, wrestling, and overall anger between the two. Both Lizzie and Edwin had been running an on-going investigation, believing it was really just tension over the fact that they actually liked each other but knew nothing could come of it. Derek was constantly annoyed with Casey when she dated, no matter who the guy was, and Casey always had a few choice names in reference to whoever Derek was making out with that day. While Derek layered his feelings with the rather obvious and childish be-mean-to-those-he-likes, Casey instead acted repulsed by him while secretly admiring his ability to be so calm about most everything. So, like any other time, while the two were in one of their loud, bickering fights over nothing, everybody else in the house tried to ignore it and turned over in their beds in hopes of getting some sleep.

"Seriously! Derek! Did you leave any water for the _rest of the street_?" Casey screeched as he sauntered out of her bedroom.

It was late and everybody was already expected to be in bed, but Derek had put off going to bed and had only now finished an hour long shower. He'd spent the majority of the last day of his summer break horsing around with Sam. They'd played every sport under the sun as long as one of them had the equipment for it and he'd only gotten in an hour before, which was only because Sam's mom called his cell phone and told him if he wasn't home in five minutes, he wasn't allowed to use his car for the first half of their last year in high school. Sam had booked it out of the park and Derek leisurely walked home. Casey on the other hand was going through her backpack to make sure that everything was ready for her first day back. She'd already done it three times, but she was sure she was forgetting something.

"Seriously, Case," he mocked, lifting a brow. "It takes time to make me smell this good."

Casey sneered, "Call me when that works out for you," she replied scathingly.

Frowning, Derek crossed his arms over his chest. "Look Princess, as much as I love this little chat we're having, I have better things to do. Like not talking to you," he told her, turning to walk off.

"Oh don't let me interrupt," Casey called out to him. "I wouldn't want to hinder you by reminding you that six other people still live in this house. And in seven hours are going to need the water you just spent washing the perfume and dirt off of yourself."

Sighing, Derek turned back to her, scowling. "I'll be sure to remember that the next time I find a ring around the tub from your stupid scented bath junk. Don't forget that you've spent much longer than an hour soaking in the tub before." He shook his head, water spattering off his hair and splashing onto her face, only further angering her. "Next time, I'll be sure to call and make sure that _you're_ okay with when and how long I shower."

Huffing, Casey glared at him. "Could you be any less of a decent person?" she wondered. She felt her neck flush but not with indignation. Had he noticed the way her eyes ventured down from his face? Exactly what were they doing in hockey practice that gave him a physique like _that_? Her cheeks heated up and she hoped he assumed it was just her anger.

"I could try, just for you," he told her with a mocking smile and dark eyes. He swallowed tightly, noticing how attractive she was with her face tinged with irritation. There was a telling flush to her cheeks and her hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders. He forced his hand not to reach out and touch it, he could always cover it up by pulling on it. He could smell her from where he stood, a light vanilla scent. His eyes roamed over her body, but he was pretty sure that his smirk made it appear more like he was just sizing her up and seeing nothing of serious consequence.

"If you're gonna try anything for me, make sure it's becoming someone I can put up with," Casey returned, lifting her own arms to cross over his chest. "Let's see. You'll have to change your entire personality, stop talking, and... oh... right... disappear entirely." She grinned at him, her expression biting. "Good luck with that."

Derek scowled, his shoulders stiffening. "Oh but Case, I wouldn't want to leave my _lovely_ step-sister here all on her own. Imagine what could happen to you," he said, his brows lifting. "With nobody around to remind you how pathetic, lonely, and completely annoying you are, you might actually grow to think people _like_ you." Derek ignored the spark of hurt that flared in her eyes and even the sharp pain in his chest when he realized he'd just said something rather unforgivable.

Licking her lips, Casey simply smirked. "You're right. I do need you around. I mean, without you to be compared to, I just look great. But seeing how much of an inconsiderate, moronic, slob you are, everybody else can see that I quite obviously am so far above you, you barely constitute as anything." She furrowed her brow, tipping her head slightly. "Did I use too many big words? Do you want me to get my dictionary for you?" she teased.

Derek sneered, taking a step toward her as his arms flexed with anger. "You think you're so much better because you get a couple good grades on a few tests--"

"And you think you're so much more important just because you score a few goals and couple girls think you're good looking," she cut in, shaking her head.

"Newsflash, Princess, years from now when you've got your cushy career and some poor sap for a husband, I'm still going to be the king of everything. I'll be the one with the money, the fame, the friends and the life, while you'll be stuck in some desk job that you'll hope will pay for your antidepressant addiction while running after a couple kids who hate you. You'll be stuck as the same fake _perfect_ girl who nobody likes but everybody puts up with," he spat cuttingly.

Casey shook her head, rolling her eyes against the tears building up. "Hah! King of everything? Try the guy still living at home with his parents! You'll live out of the basement, become the kid that George and my mom never really talk about, and will always be remembered as that **loser** who _used_ to be good at hockey but couldn't scrape enough braincells together to get accepted into college," she shouted right back, her voice tearing at him. "Your friends will move on, get real careers and forget all about _The Derek Venturi_."

Breathing heavily, they stood glaring at each other, not knowing what else to say but feeling both hurt and angry at one another. Casey was barely suppressing her tears while Derek was pretending it hadn't hurt that she thought so little of him. They'd had their differences over the years, no doubt about that, but they hadn't thought that hatred was really what the other felt for them. Casey had always harbored a bit of a crush on Derek, if only because he had a suaveness that she could never accomplish, while Derek couldn't help but notice that Casey had a strength in her that he'd never bothered to use. She overcame the stigmas kids labeled her with and stayed true to herself while Derek fell victim to whatever they thought of him, becoming a puppet in some ways. All the same, Casey felt tormented by the fact that she really wasn't all that liked while Derek had so many admirers for being so _unlike_ her. There were days when they pointed each others faults out without even trying and they couldn't help but wish that they'd never met. That Derek had never had to open his eyes to the fact that he wasn't the greatest person in the world. That Casey hadn't been forced to see that sometimes working hard and nagging to get the best of everything was just pathetic and overdoing it. It was times like this, moments where they saw their faults and blamed each other for it, that they truly wished they'd never had to meet at all.

Finally, as if sharing the same thought, they both shouted, "I wish our parents had never met!" Their words echoed into the hall, loud and pain filled. With nothing left to say to each other, they glared and turned to go to their own bedrooms, hurt and exhausted.

Derek threw himself down on his bed, glaring up at the dark roof and muttering to himself. He didn't know what he'd ever seen in her. It was obvious that she was just an uptight, mean, overbearing priss. Turning on to his side, he tightened his jaw against the pain in his throat. He was _not_ stupid! He wasn't the smartest kid around, but he could do the work if he put his mind to it. So what if he wasn't an honors student and didn't put his hand up every time a question was asked. That didn't mean he was going to be a loser when high school finished. He could get a full scholarship for hockey and he'd get to work in college. Then he'd prove to her and everybody else whoever thought he was just a stupid jock that he wasn't mindless. He'd show her.

Casey fell onto her bed, smothering her face in her pillow. Tears leaked out of her eyes and sobs tore up her throat, but she held them in tight. She wouldn't let him know he hurt her. She wouldn't let him have the satisfaction of knowing that he had cut her deep with his words. She was _not_ disliked. So, she didn't have that many friends and she wasn't the most popular girl at school, that didn't mean people thought she was fake and only put up with her. And her life was not going to be so ridiculously pathetic. She wouldn't become that sad, middle-aged, suburban woman that put up some fa**ç**ade to hide how empty her life was. She would be more than that! She would show him.

As they lay in their beds, blaming each other and hurting over what was said, they shared the same sentiments. They wished they'd never been forced into being step siblings. That their parents had never met and married and they'd never have to wake up to find one another in the room next door again. As Casey cried herself to sleep and Derek tossed and turned until he fell into an uncomfortable slumber, they had no idea how different the next morning would be. They had no idea what one simple wish, one small meeting and marriage, had done to change their lives and those lives around them. The rising of the sun would bring a whole other reality for them, one with both good and horrible qualities. Some parts would reach their standards of perfection and others would tear down their comfort zones entirely. It was time they learned that some thing were meant to be, for the alternate solution wasn't always the better one.

o_TBC_o

* * *

**A/N** _It's short, I know, the chapters are **much** longer! I'm working on "**What Happened to Happily Ever After?**" in the background and I will post as soon as I get a good portion of it done. "**For Marti**," is still being written and I'll have another chapter up to it soon. I got the idea for this story a few weeks ago and I already have a few chapters written. I hope you enjoy this, it's more lighthearted than most of my others. There are some dark spots however, but nothing like "**For Marti**." Okay, so I hope you like the plot and how it's being written. Be sure to leave a review, I'd really like to know what you think!_ :D

o**BDT**o


	2. o1o

_**Some Things Were Meant To Be**_

o**1**o

Derek groaned as the sunlight beat through his window and warmed his face. The alarm clock next to his bed that he didn't recognize in the least flicked ahead a number and suddenly began blaring. He frowned to himself, wondering why he was getting up so much earlier than usual. Rolling his eyes, he decided Casey must have snuck in and set up an alarm just to drive him nuts. Slamming his hand down on it, he rolled over and closed his eyes. He pulled the pillow half over his head, expecting to hear the customary loud voices of the rest of the house as they pushed each other out of the way to get to the bathroom. When he didn't hear anything, his brow furrowed. It _was_ the first day back at school, wasn't it? All of his thinking was waking up, so he gave up fighting it and rolled off his bed, his legs getting tangled in his blanket on the way.

Stopping at his dresser, he grabbed his new jeans, a clean polo shirt that he didn't remember buying and assumed Nora bought him, and searched through his drawers for his hockey hoodie. He looked around the floor, expecting to see it hidden beneath a pile of dirty clothes but found his floor fairly neat. There were a few things laying around, but all of his clothes were piled in a basket. Scratching his head, he shrugged it off and padded over to the basket to see if maybe it was clean enough for the day. Instead, he spotted it hanging nicely in his closet, next to a few dress shirts, sweaters, and some jackets he didn't remember owning. He wondered when Nora had the time to go shopping and pulled his black hoodie off the hanger.

Slipping out of his room, he looked around to make sure that nobody was scurrying to the bathroom in hopes of getting ahead of him. He glanced at Casey's door, surprised to see it closed and then looked over at Marti's and Lizzie's doors, finding one open but hearing no noises from anyone. Smirking to himself, thinking that everybody else must have forgotten it was the first day of school, he strolled into the bathroom, shut the door and turned to the linen closet expecting to see a messy pile of clean towels, instead finding them all perfectly folded. He grabbed his off of the shelf and turned the taps to the right temperature. After a twenty minute shower spent waiting for somebody to bang on the door or shout for him to wake up, he figured it was just because he was up an hour earlier that nobody was bothering him.

Wrapping his towel around his waist, he walked to the sink and combed his hair quickly, before opening the cabinet door and readying himself for the annoyance of searching through women's products and messy shelves for his shaver. Instead, he found it sitting on the first shelf, near his toothpaste and toothbrush. His brow furrowed when he didn't see any of Casey's stuff layering the shelves and his eyes roamed the bathroom to see that none of her things were in the bathroom. Not even her flowery shampoo or vanilla shaving gel. Her makeup was nowhere in sight and he couldn't see her hairspray or facial cleansers anywhere. He deduced that she either ran away, cleaning the bathroom in her wake, or she just moved all of her stuff to her bedroom. Shrugging it off, happy for the space, Derek got back to his bathroom regiment, happy that he had the complete quiet and privacy. He shaved, applied cologne and deodorant, brushed his teeth, did his hair, and got dressed before he even heard anybody else in the house rouse.

Walking out of the bathroom, enjoying the cool air that hit him as he exited the heat, he glanced over at Edwin, surprised to see his younger brother rather than the early and anal Casey hurrying to get ready. Walking downstairs, he was surprised not to hear the usual hustle and bustle of his dad and Nora in the kitchen, hurrying to get lunches and breakfast ready. The house was unusually quiet, especially for seven thirty in the morning. He wasn't regularly up that early, but he could hear it all from his room. He walked into the empty kitchen to find there was no usual mess from the occupants of the house and nothing was on the stove. Assuming Nora had left them to their own devices, Derek pulled down a box of cereal and found the milk in the completely stocked fridge. He wondered why it was one percent when they usually used two, but poured it on his cereal all the same. Yawning, he shifted around on his feet. He was still rather tired from the rough night he'd had. He wondered if maybe Casey had slept in too, likely because she was up crying her eyes out until all hours of the night. He ignored the regret creeping up his spine, it wasn't as if she hadn't said some cutting things herself. They'd likely shake it off and go back to being their usual selfs, nothing to worry about.

As he was finishing up his cereal, he heard the door open and nodded at his younger brother as Edwin sleepily made his way over to the cupboard to get a bowl of cereal together. He waited for the usual conversation Ed would strike up, joke about the new freshman coming in and how they'd likely fawn over Derek as quickly as they could say 'homeroom,' but Edwin didn't say anything to him. He went about having breakfast and even took it at the table rather than hanging around Derek like he usually would. Derek was tempted to ask what his problem was but didn't. George entered the room then, with a yawning Marti trailing behind him. His father was all dressed up in an impeccable suit that made him look like the big shot lawyer he could've been but declined years ago to just work nine to five. He even had a briefcase and Derek had to wonder exactly where he was when Nora got the urge to go on her mega shopping spree. And why didn't he get any of the cash? He could've put it to use.

"Lookin' sharp, pops," Derek said, nodding to George.

His father smiled at him briefly, before moving to the cupboards and pulling down a packet of something. Before Derek could ask what he was doing, he pulled out the blender, filled it with some water and then poured the powder inside. He turned it on and then turned his attention to grabbing a bowl and a box of cereal and handing it to Marti to take care of on her own. Derek frowned at the blender as he put his bowl in the sink and moved to help Marti get her cereal ready, using the milk sitting near Ed who was quietly eating his cereal. None of the MacDonald's were anywhere in sight and he wondered exactly when the pod people had taken over his family. Walking back into the kitchen after hearing Marti mumble thank you to him, he searched through the fridge for an apple to bring for his break between classes. The loud noise coming from the blender stopped and Derek turned to see his dad pour it into a glass before beginning to drink it. He frowned, looking disgusted by the grey gunk sitting in the glass.

George sighed, looking up at Derek as he leaned against the fridge. "It tastes better than it looks. You should try it some time," he told his son, motioning to the half-full glass.

Derek watched the grey gunk slide back down to sit with the rest of if and shook his head, his mouth twisted with confusion. "No thanks. I prefer_ real_ food." He tipped his head, wondering when his dad started drinking the revolting looking drinks. "Is anybody gonna wake the others up?" he finally asked, looking around to find that Nora, Lizzie, and Casey had yet to join them. It was beginning to get weird.

"Others?" George asked him, his brows furrowed. "Derek, you know your step mother is out the door before six each morning."

Derek shook his head slowly, questions milling around in his head. Six? Nora was never out the door before eight thirty. Half the time she got Marti late to elementary school because they always forgot something and then had to make her way over to work, barely arriving just under the wire. He knew that for a fact, because he saw it every morning for the last two years. He usually walked to school with Sam, while Casey and Emily left earlier so his lovely step sister wouldn't have to put up with him. On occasion, when Nora or George were pretty much on schedule, they got a ride, but usually they walked it. He didn't know why it was that Nora was nowhere in sight, or when she started going in so early. He figured it must have happened over summer break, which he never rose earlier than noon for. But that didn't explain why nobody was moving to wake Lizzie or Casey up. They couldn't already be up and out, could they? Casey got up early, but there was no way she was up earlier than Derek and already on her way. And Lizzie wasn't the earliest riser. Besides, she always walked to school with Edwin. The two of them didn't do _anything_ without the other. Maybe that was why Edwin was in such a bad mood. Lizzie had left without him. But there was really no reason for Lizzie to get up so early. Derek had been up and out of bed by quarter to seven, what the hell was anybody else in the house doing even _thinking_ of getting up?

"Are you going to need the car to pick up your girlfriend?" George asked him, leafing through some papers and taking another drink from his grey gunk.

_Girlfriend_? "My girlfriend?" he repeated, his brow lifting. He'd broken up with Kendra years ago and he hadn't had anybody steady since, so he had no idea what his dad was talking about. Had he taken a hit to the head this morning?

George sighed, standing up and looking over at him with exasperation. "Yes, Derek, girlfriend. I'm sorry I've been busy lately, but don't tell me you and she broke up? I know I haven't made a very big effort to get to know her, but you have to understand how busy work's been." He sighed, walking to the sink as he knocked back the last of his drink, rinsed the glass and left it in the dish rack. "So, did you break up or do you need the car?" he wondered, looking only mildly interested.

Edwin snorted in the background and Derek looked at him, expecting to hear his brother start singing praises about Derek having any girl he could ever want. "Please. He was practically shopping for rings last weekend," Edwin muttered to himself, barely loud enough for Derek to catch.

Derek nearly choked on air, stumbling back a step and staring at his brother like he'd grown a second head.

"Well? Derek?" his dad asked, looking at him searchingly.

He had no idea what his family was on, but he wasn't about to give up a chance to take the car. "Yeah, I need the car."

"Okay," George agreed, nodding. "You can drop Marti off at school and bring Edwin with you when you pick up Casey," he told him, putting his folders back into his briefcase and dropping a set of keys that clearly had a Lexus emblem on them.

"Casey," Derek repeated, his hands picked up the keys and his mind trying to wrap around all the inconsistencies happening around him.

"Yeah, that's her name, isn't it?" George asked, turning around to look at him as he walked backwards through the dining room, briefcase in hand. "Casey MacDonald or McPherson or something?" he wondered, shaking his head.

"MacDonald," Edwin replied, nodding as he leisurely ate his soggy cereal.

Okay, now Derek _knew_ he was dreaming. Or having some sort of nightmare. He wasn't sure. Everything was surreal and out of place.

"You okay, Derek? You look a little peaky?" George said, pausing at the doorway. "Did you want to stay home today? I'm sure your teachers would understand," he offered.

Derek was completely sure the world had stopped spinning. His dad was asking him if he wanted to take a day off from school?! That hadn't happened since he was like... eight! Back when he was trustworthy enough to be believed when he said he was sick. He stared at his father a moment, at a loss for words. Seriously, what just happened? he wondered.

"You gotta tell me now, son. If you're staying home, then I've got to take the kids to school." He lifted his arm, checking his watch, which happened to look way too expensive for a man who raised five kids. "I've got to be at work in ten minutes," he said, wincing.

Derek shook his head, trying to clear it. "Nah. No. I can take them. I'm fine. Just... just a little... uh... off balance. First day of school, right? Not used to being up this early."

George nodded, accepting the answer. "All right. So I'll see you guys later tonight. I hope to be home for dinner, but you know how it is." He turned to leave, but paused and turned back with a grim expression. "Please try to be nice to Kelly. It's been two years guys, she's doing the best she can."

"Kelly," Derek muttered, his arms lifting to cross over his chest. Who the hell is Kelly? And why the hell was everything so completely off kilter? Did Casey slip him something? That was impossible. He was out all day. Okay, so it was all just some elaborate dream. He'd wake up any minute now. His foot tapped to the seconds he was counting in his head, waiting for Marti to wake him up or the loud noises of Casey arguing with somebody for the bathroom to startle him from his sleep.

George heaved a great sigh. "Derek, really, I know you don't like her. But I don't think you've given her much of a chance." Edwin snorted but their dad didn't seem to notice. "She's tried really hard to get you to like her, I don't know why she bothers you so much." Edwin snorted again, but this time he looked disgusted and Derek had no idea why. George frowned, as if expecting Derek to concede and admit that whoever Kelly was, she was an okay person. But being Derek, he simply stood there silently. "Look, I have to be at work. We'll talk about this later. I promise. Have a good day at school everyone," he said absently as he turned and left the room.

Derek stared at the door, waiting for his dad to realize his mistake in not kissing Marti goodbye, but George never returned. He heard the door shut in the distance and turned to Marti, expecting her to become upset and chase him down for her usual farewell hug and kiss. Then their dad would make her promise not to bite, hit, or taunt anybody, and to be a good girl for her teachers. But Marti simply sat in her chair, stirring her cereal. The house was completely silent, in an eerie and oddly foreboding way. He waited a moment for everybody to jump out and yell 'GOTCHA!' but it never came. There was no telltale signs that Casey, Lizzie, or Nora were ever there. He left the kitchen quickly, suddenly looking all around him, trying to find pictures or clothing or something, anything that belonged to one of them. There were hardly any pictures taken during the last few years was the first thing he noticed. There were a few of Edwin or Marti, but no family photos or pictures of Casey or Lizzie anywhere. The house was incredibly clean, everything put in a certain place and nothing looking like it usually did. Now that he was actually looking, he could see that his favorite lumpy couch was no longer sitting in the middle of the living room, but a stylish new living room set had replaced it. He gritted his teeth as he saw that his chair was nowhere in sight.

Climbing the stairs two at a time, he practically ran to Casey's room and threw it open, inside was one large queen bed, the one his dad had owned for years. There was nothing that Casey owned sitting anywhere in the room. There were a few pictures on the wall, but they were floral and of pastures or fields or something else pointless. There was a jewelry box on the long dresser near the door and a woman's bathrobe hanging on a hook near the closet. Matching lamps sat on bedside tables and his father's slippers were sitting near the side of the bed. There was a small photo on his table of Derek, Edwin, and Marti, all of them looking like they were three years younger. Derek stumbled back in confusion before walking to Lizzie's room only to find it was still Edwin's. Everything was as it had been back before Nora and her daughters moved in. But that wasn't right. What happened to the two years they spent living with them? What happened to all that time he spent fighting with Casey and putting up with all the crap that happened when the families merged? What the hell happened period?

Derek walked back to his room, throwing open the door and looking around in confusion. His chair was there, sitting in the corner. How had he not noticed that when he woke up? He walked to his computer and turned it on, checking the date and time. It was just as it was supposed to be: September 8th, 2008. The first day of his senior year, ten months before he was graduated and done. He searched through his computer, looking for something that would tell him he hadn't gone crazy. Instead he found a whole lot of homework assignments, and they were completed! Essays, reviews, notes, everything. Two years worth of Derek doing work he hadn't actually done. It was all wrong. On top of that, the files that used to hold pictures of him at hockey practice, most of them being him horsing around with Sam didn't exist. There were a few of him with random guys on the team, but Sam was never seen hanging around Derek at all. There was a whole folder, bigger than the rest marked "Symbolistic white walls surround me and you." He felt his curiosity peak, his brow lifting slowly. He recognized the line, it was from a Matthew Good song. He moved his mouse toward it, but before he could click on it, a loud, sharp knock could be heard on his door.

Jumping in his seat, Derek looked up to see Edwin leaned against the doorway. "I don't need a ride. I'll walk," he stated simply. "Marti is already dressed and I made her lunch, so she's ready to go when you are."

Derek looked down at the clock on his computer. "It's only eight."

Edwin stared at him, his expression confused as his eyes looked at Derek as if he had suddenly become something to study. "Yeah... and you're usually gone by now. Casey's place is like a ten minute drive from here. If you guys want to be on time, you kinda _have_ to leave now." Edwin lifted a brow at Derek, "You sure you don't need to stay home today?"

Derek shook his head, rising from his chair. What was it with everybody bringing up him and Casey like that? Obviously there had to be a whole other Casey MacDonald. MacDonald was a common last name and Casey was... well... Whatever. Although that didn't explain why the house was so bare of the family that used to be there. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he should stay home.

"Derek? Can we go now?" Marti asked from the door of her room, her expression rather sad.

"Sure Smarti," he replied, walking toward her and wondering why she hadn't used her customary "Smerek" when greeting him.

Marti's expression lit up instantly. "I thought you forgot," she whispered as he picked her up and held her against his side. She may be nine, but old habits die hard.

He looked at her weirdly, not sure what she meant. "I could never forget my Smarti," he assured, walking them downstairs. Edwin passed them by, sticking his shoes on and hurrying out the door. "Are you sure--"

"I'm sure," he replied, cutting him off and shutting the door with a loud bang before running off across the front yard.

"Okaaay," Derek said, shaking his head. Whatever was going on, it apparently made Edwin into a jerk who didn't much like him. "Great," he muttered, pulling his shoes on and sighing. He was about to go back to his room to gather his backpack, before he spotted it by the closet. Picking it up, he threw the strap over his shoulder and motioned for Marti to walk out. His bag felt heavier than usual, as if there were actual books inside, which rather confused him. Locking the door behind him, Derek walked out to the driveway where a two year old Lexus sat freshly cleaned and waiting. Whatever his dad was doing that he wasn't in Derek's real life, he should definitely start. Marti climbed in the back after Derek unlocked the door and buckled herself in. After tossing his bag into the seat beside him, he leaned back to wait for it to warm up a bit.

"Smerek, am I gonna come with you out to Casey's?" Marti asked from the back as she tugged on her dress, squirming in her seat.

"Nope, I'm dropping you off first," he replied. He had no idea where this Casey chick lived and he figured it didn't really matter because he was obviously having some kind of mental breakdown or a bizarre dream. "Why? Do you know Casey well?" he wondered, hoping he didn't sound as weird as he thought he did. If she was used to whatever it was going on, then she'd think he was being odd, wouldn't she?

Marti nodded, taking her shoe off and beating it against the back of his chair. She smiled when she saw something fall out and then put it back on her foot. "Of course," she replied as if it was most the obvious thing in the world. "I play with Casey more than I play with daddy," she told him in her 'duh' voice.

Derek's brows pinched together, but he sighed. He didn't know what was going on, but questioning it was just absurd. He figured waiting it out was the best option. That way, he didn't look or act like a tard and he could just pretend it never happened whenever he woke up. With the car ready to go, he backed up and headed toward Marti's elementary school. When she didn't mention anything out of place, he figured her school hadn't changed. "You want me to walk you in?" he asked when she pushed open the door and climbed out. She shook her head, pushing the door closed and turned to leave. "Don't I get a kiss goodbye?" he asked, shaking his head.

Turning back to him, she smiled faintly and hurried over to kiss his cheek. "Will you pick me up?" she asked hopefully. "I don't like it when Kelly does," she admitted, frowning.

"Uh, you guys get out a half-hour before I do," Derek said, frowning. Her face fell and he immediately felt bad. "But I'll be here to get you, if you want."

"Promise?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"Of course," he said, nodding.

"Will you bring Casey?" she wondered, her hands wrapping around his arm on the window. "Please, Smerek?"

"Uh, sure," he agreed, feeling his gut twist. He didn't even know who Casey was! It couldn't be who he thought it was, because that would mean that things were even more twisted than he thought. "I'll see you at two-thirty, Smarti," he told her, reaching out to ruffle her hair.

Marti giggled, nodding her head before she turned and ran off toward the school, a skip in her step that he'd sorely missed all morning. Sighing, Derek turned back to the wheel and took off toward school. He felt a little nauseous, worrying over what else could be in store for him. So far the family that had been living in his house the last two years were long gone. His brother didn't seem to like him much. His dad drank grey crap for breakfast and basically ignored his family. He had a step mother he apparently hated and a girlfriend he'd never met. How much worse could the morning get?

oOo

Casey opened her eyes to see the sun beating down on her through an unfamiliar window. Her first thought was that somehow in the middle of the night, Derek had managed to move her to an unknown place and left her to fend for herself. After realizing how completely absurd that was, she sat up in her bed and looked around. All of her stuff was in the room. Her desk and computer, her dresser and bed, end tables, posters, pictures, everything. But the room itself was a different layout than she was used to. Confused, she rose from her bed and walked to the window, looking outside. There was crisp green yard out front, but it wasn't the one she was used to. Shaking her head, she turned and ran out of her room. Standing in the hallway, she looked around in a panic. She had no idea where she was, how was she supposed to get help. Maybe she hit her head. Or... or maybe she was kidnapped! Then why did they bring all of her stuff? Maybe they put together a room with stuff that looked exactly like hers. _Oh my god_, she thought, _I've been watching way too much TV_. Before she could scream bloody murder, Lizzie exited a door down the hall from her.

And as if it were the most normal thing in the world, simply greeted her with an easy, "Morning Casey," before she walked into a room that from the small glimpse Casey caught was a bathroom. Okay... so she hadn't been kidnapped. Either that or so had Lizzie and she'd apparently been brainwashed to think everything was fine. Yup, way too much TV. Walking back to her room, her mind whirring with the weirdness of it all, she dug around in her dresser for the new outfit she'd picked out specifically for the first day of school. Unfortunately, she couldn't find it anywhere. However, when she turned around she found a cute black tank top with little dark blue hearts imprinted over it. It was casual and adorable and Casey couldn't help but silently thank her mother for finding it wherever it was she went shopping. She'd never seen it in her life, but she loved it. A pair of faded blue jeans hung over a hanger next to the shirt and Casey wondered when her mother had grown fashion sense. Since Lizzie was occupying the shower, Casey left the room to go looking for the kitchen in search of breakfast. She wandered down the stairs, her eyes moving over pictures of her and Lizzie, most of them separate. She found her mother was hardly ever present and nowhere in sight was anybody with the last name Venturi. There was a man she didn't recognize though, featured in a family picture above the fireplace in the living room. He was dark haired with tanned skin, a crisp smile, very white teeth, and impeccable dressing style.

Pushing open the swinging door near the living room, she found herself standing in the dining room. Hearing the clatter of dishes, Casey walked forward hesitantly until she saw her mom rinsing off a plate, cup, and a couple pieces of cutlery before drying them off and putting them away. The lack of clutter in the kitchen area surprised her. All of the dishes were washed and put away, the counters were clean and there was no milk sitting on the counter, warming. In fact, there was nothing out of place anywhere. The house was quiet, too. She couldn't hear Edwin and Lizzie chatting or Derek getting in the way to have his breakfast at any cost. Marti was nowhere in sight, shouting for attention. It was just her mom and her, and Nora hadn't even noticed she was there yet.

Looking around, she wondered where the cereal was, but couldn't see it anywhere. "Mom?" she asked, her voice soft, rather hesitant.

Jumping slightly, Nora turned around and smiled at her lightly. "Oh, Casey, you're already up," she said, sounding rather surprised.

Casey stared at her funny. Already? She was always up this early. She was surprised her mom was up! "Uh, yeah," she replied, lifting a shoulder in confusion. "So, where's the cereal?"

"Casey," her mom said, drawing her name out as if to chastise her. "You know Darrel doesn't approve of cereal. It's too sugary and unhealthy. No matter how many times you bring it up, we are _not_ going to have a box appear out of nowhere," she told her, shaking her head. "There's fruit in the fridge, as usual. I'm sure you can remember how to make yourself a fruit salad. Like you have for the past two years." Her mom frowned at her before putting the drying towel on the counter, neatly folded.

Casey took a step back, feeling a little hurt that her mom had taken such a sharp tone with her. Since when did they not have cereal? And who was Darrel? That was really the least of her problems. Because honestly, she had no idea what was going on. She wanted to ask where Derek was. Where any of the Venturi's were. But seeing the look on her mom's face when she'd simply asked about cereal had been enough to scare her off of asking anything. Nobody else seemed to find it weird that Marti, Edwin, Derek, and George were nowhere in sight. And who was the guy in the family photo? Was that Darrel? What was going on? She went to bed in a house nothing like the one she was currently standing in.

Her mom was staring at her, her arms crossed over her chest. Casey turned, opening the fridge, assuming that her mom was waiting for her to make her fruit salad. Casey's eyes widened as they fell on the contents of the fridge. Everything was neatly placed in a certain order and some of the things were even labeled! A carton of soy milk said 'Darrel – Don't touch' on it, as did the grapefruit juice on the top shelf, carefully wrapped in saran wrap. Everything was spaced out and none of it was unhealthy. There was no chocolate sauce on the door shelf, used for desserts or chocolate milk. There was no pop or Gatorade or any of Derek's cans of Red Bull sitting on the shelves. There wasn't any pudding or Jello cups for lunches or cold pizza sitting on the bottom. There were just low-fat yogurts, bottles of water, a jug of one percent milk, a carton of orange juice, fruit, vegetables, and some wrapped leftovers. Even the condiments on the side were low in fat and very few. Pulling out a yogurt and a bottle of water, she closed the fridge and took a step back. Since she'd seen her mom put the cutlery away, she knew which drawer it was in and wouldn't look completely ridiculous searching around for it. Pulling out a spoon, she walked over to the table and sat down.

Following her over, Nora slid into her chair and opened the paper waiting there for her. She was already dressed and Casey couldn't help but think how unusual it was to have time to spend with her mom. In the past, while living with the Venturis she'd missed having her mom to just sit around and chat with. However, now that the family seemed to be missing and everything was completely different, she found she really didn't have anything to say. On top of that, she didn't know what would constitute as weird or insane. Logically, she figured coming right out and saying, "Where is your husband George and his three kids?" wouldn't go over well. From what she could gather, she had to be dreaming. There were no Venturis in sight, it was just her, her mom, and Lizzie. Oh, and some Darrel guy that apparently was a health freak. But besides that, things looked to be better than normal. A clean, quiet house, no pesky step brother to make her cry, and she didn't have to worry about anybody taking over the shower and keeping her away from it until five minutes before she had to run to get to school.

"So..." Casey said quietly as she pulled the top off her yogurt.

Nora looked up from her paper, glancing at Casey. "Did you want to talk about something?" she wondered, lifting a brow.

Casey shrugged one shoulder, not sure how to approach what was going on. "First day back at school," she said, her voice coming out hollow to her with its fake enthusiasm. She was a little distracted to be too excited that she was going to school. What if her school wasn't the one she thought she went to? Then again, what if she wasn't even in the city she thought she was in? In didn't matter, right? Because this was obviously some weird dream that she'd wake up from any second now.

"Yes, I bet you're happy to be getting back," Nora said, her voice sounding rather clipped, like she wasn't used to talking to Casey about things like school. "It's your... last year, isn't it?" she asked, inquisitively.

Casey nearly laughed. Her mother could be a little forgetful, what with five kids to take care of, a job of her own, and a husband that tended to forget things seconds after being told to do them, but she _had_ to be kidding, didn't she? "Yeah. Last year. Bound to be the best," she said, her voice tinged with hopeful excitement. She had big plans for her last year. She'd been waiting for it for so long. Just ten more months and she'd be finished and getting ready for college! It was... exhilarating.

"Hm," Nora seemed to agree, her eyes falling back to her paper with interest.

Casey couldn't help but feel a little down that her mom found her newspaper more interesting than hearing all about her plans for her senior year. Wasn't she supposed to be excited for her? Tell her to have a good day and study hard? Something other than 'Hm'?! Frustrated, she dug into her yogurt and frowned down at the table. It was kind of weird sitting at a table that didn't have dried jam on it or that she didn't have to put with Derek's loud noises and Marti's incessant shouting. The quiet was more unnerving than anything and she found she almost missed the sounds of everybody else. Her yogurt was tasteless and the water didn't make it any better. The only sound in the room was that of her spoon scraping on the plastic container and the pages of her mom's newspaper turning. When she was done her breakfast, she pushed her chair back and walked into the kitchen, tossing the container under the counter in the recycling and dropping her spoon in the sink.

She was about to walk away when her mom called out, "Casey? You _know_ we do the dishes right after using them. Is it too much to ask that you wash your spoon and put it away?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

Sighing, Casey turned around and rinsed off the spoon, putting it back where she found it. Her morning was not going as planned. Leaving the kitchen, she walked back through the unfamiliar living room, her eyes settling on the family picture again, finding a creepy shiver run down her spine as she stared at the man beside her mother, and climbed up the stairs. The bathroom was open, so she gathered her clothes and hurried inside to have a shower and get ready. Within a half hour, she hadn't had to deal with one person banging on the door or shouting for her to hurry up. She had ample time to brush her teeth, do her hair, spritz on some body spray, put on a bit of makeup and get dressed. Walking out of the bathroom refreshed, she found her happiness dissipate as soon as she looked around again. Everything felt so weird and out of place. There was no games closet, no Marti running around in a crown, no Derek bugging her to let him past so he could have his shower. It was both good and bad.

Walking back downstairs, she avoided looking up at the family portrait and immediately went into the kitchen. Did she need to pack a lunch? Her dream certainly felt real. She had the distinct feeling that she should be getting her things ready for school and making sure she had everything. But if she was going to wake up, what was the point in hurrying? And why wasn't she waking up? Exactly how long was she going to be in this bizarre world where there was no Venturi family? As she stopped in the kitchen, she looked down at Lizzie who was reading a book silently at the table. She felt like starting up a conversation, but didn't know what to say. Since it was Monday, she wondered if Lizzie had her soccer practice.

Walking to the fridge, she searched around for something edible to bring to school. Finding only an apple, she turned to the cupboards and looked around them. Rice cakes, tasteless granola bars, tuna, soup, digestive cookies, and various ingredients for meals stared back at her. Sighing, Casey leaned against the counter, wondering exactly what she was supposed to do. Was this some kind of weird test? Was her mom going to laugh and spring a big surprise on her and tell her it was all some big joke? Somehow, staring at her sister and mother, she didn't think so. Moving to sit at the table, she found herself bored within minutes. "So, Lizzie, you have soccer practice after school, right?" she asked, lifting a brow.

Lizzie's chin rose dramatically and she stared at Casey like she was crazy. She shook her head, eyes wide and then glanced at her mom.

Sighing, Nora frowned at her. "Why are you being so uncooperative this morning, Casey?" she asked, staring at her daughter disapprovingly.

Casey shrugged, not entirely sure how to answer that. "What? I was just wondering..."

"Look, I know you and Darrel don't get along, but do you need to put down everything he thinks? First you brought up the cereal thing, then you didn't wash your dishes right away, and now you're trying to bring up Lizzie's old soccer team?" She shook her head, looking disgruntled. "I understand that you feel like Darrel is taking over, Casey, but there are just some things that are best left alone. He lives here now. He has a say in what goes on. He didn't think Lizzie should be focusing so much on soccer when her grades needed more attention. There's plenty of time for her to play soccer over the summer and she did. I don't see why you need to bring up old news," Nora chastised, rising from her chair. "I really wish you would just give Darrel another try. I know he seems a little overbearing, honey, but he's only doing what's best for you." She shook her head, folding her newspaper and sticking it beneath her arm. "You have to admit, your grades could be a little higher if you put the effort in." She sighed, frowning. "I don't know if this move to public school was such a great idea. I mean, almost as soon as you started going, your grades began to slip." She shook her head, "You used to spend hours on your homework. Up all night, cramming for tests and going over every detail to make sure you got the best grade possible. In fact, you used to bug your teachers when you thought your grade was better than what they gave you." She tisked and Casey's shoulders fell. Exactly how bad were her grades? she wondered.

Lizzie scoffed, rolling her eyes at their mother. "Mom, Casey gets straight A's."

"Yes, but she used to get A pluses," Nora reminded, frowning.

Casey relaxed. She could handle straight A's. Her heart wasn't doing somersaults anymore. For a moment there, she was sure that she was failing and it really was a nightmare. She didn't understand though, shouldn't her mom be proud of her? Straight A's, that was a huge accomplishment. Even if she could do better, shouldn't her mom be happy with how well Casey was doing to begin with? "I don't understand the problem," Casey muttered, confused.

"My problem or your problem?" Nora wondered, lifting her brows. "Because your problem seems to be with Darrel and how this home is run. He's tried to be understanding Casey, and so have I. But you're going to have to stop rebelling against everything we decide."

"So, wait?" Casey said, her brows furrowing and her mouth setting in a frown. "I'm not allowed to eat cereal, Lizzie's not allowed to play soccer, and I absolutely have to do my dishes the second after I use them?" she asked, letting out a snort of indignation. Wasn't that a little overboard? "But Lizzie loves soccer! And... have you tasted the yogurt? It's like eating glue! And honestly, is one spoon in the sink going to cause a disturbance?" she wondered, becoming irritated. When would this nightmare end? How long was she supposed to put up with all of this?

"Casey," her mother said, using a warning tone. She sighed, shaking her head. Her mouth opened as if to retort but her eyes landed on the clock. "I don't have time for this. I have to be at work. Is Derek picking you up or do you need a ride?" she asked, lifting a brow as she frowned at her daughter while moving to fill a travel mug with decaf coffee.

"Derek?" Casey repeated, her eyes thinning with confusion. Why would Derek come pick her up? As far as she knew Derek didn't even exist, right? This weird dream world didn't have any Venturis in it, did it?

Lizzie standing up from her chair drew her out of her thoughts and she looked over to her sister who was moving to toss out her apple core and earmarking her page in her book.

"Well?" Nora asked, shaking her head at Casey, eyes wide and questioning. She was pulling her coat on as she waited for Casey's reply. "I'm surprised he's not here already. Usually he's the one waking you up for school," she heard her mom mutter.

It must be a completely different Derek, Casey decided. She wondered why her mind would make up a Derek at all and what he was to her. "Uh, I think I'll need a ride today," she finally said, deciding not to rely on whenever her dreamworld would bring about whoever Derek was.

Lizzie looked up at her, brows bunched together. "Last night Derek said he would be here early to pick you up though," she reminded.

"Last night?" Casey asked, feeling lost.

"Uh, yeah," Lizzie replied, staring at her like she'd lost her mind. "You guys were watching a hockey movie... Darrel kicked him out when he found you guys cuddled up on the couch... You got into a fight with Darrel over his lack of understanding over your relationship with Derek..." she said, drawing it out as if it would slowly remind Casey.

"Oh.. Yeah... Uh, well, I talked to Derek this morning and he said he'd just meet me at school," Casey told her, shrugging her shoulder.

"Well, go get your things then, I have to get to work," Nora told them, waving for them to hurry off. Casey nodded, walking out of the kitchen and running upstairs to grab her backpack and a thin sweater. She slipped her feet into a pair of flip flops and walked outside to see a fairly new and clean Land Rover sitting in the driveway. Her mom locked the door behind them and brought a few things to the back while Casey climbed in the front seat, putting her bag down in front of her feet. Lizzie sat in the back, slipping the buds to her iPod into her ears and turning her attention out the window. Their mom climbed into the car and let it sit for a moment, warming up, as she looked through her cell phone for something while Casey drummed her fingers against the arm rest. After a moment, Nora put away her phone and backed out of the driveway.

Casey watched the scenery fly by as she sat quietly next to her mom, who was paying close attention to the road. Her phone kept ringing but she'd check the call ID and then put it down, mumbling to herself, "Yes, yes, I'll be there soon." Finally, after what felt like the longest seven minutes of her life, her mom spoke to her. "I suppose you have a lot planned for this year, hm?"

Casey nodded, a smile finally breaking out on her face. "Yeah. Tons of things. It's going to be great."

Nora nodded slowly. "Have you given anymore thought to what we talked about?" she asked, lifting a brow.

Casey turned to her, frowning. "What we talked about?" she asked.

Nora frowned at her, shaking her head. "Please don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Casey."

Lizzie snorted and Casey looked over at her, confused. Pulling her ear buds out, she rolled her eyes. "After two years of nagging, are you really surprised she's bringing this up again?"

"I do not nag," Nora protested.

Casey was surprised at how annoyed Lizzie appeared to be with their mother. "Ever since Casey started dating Derek, you and Darrel both have been trying to tell her that they need to slow down," Lizzie reminded, seeming to ignore Casey altogether. "You think he's the reason her grades aren't perfect every time. You blame their relationship for the reason Casey doesn't like Darrel. Darrel thinks she's too young to be thinking about commitment and you think their puppy love won't last," Lizzie listed off, smirking. "Did I miss anything?"

Nora sighed, turning to Casey, who was sitting stunned in the passenger seat. "Casey, honey, Derek is a nice boy. He's sweet, funny, smart, and he treats you like a princess, but you're only eighteen. You have college to worry about, you need to get your grades up so you'll have your options open for whatever college best fits you," Nora told her, turning her gaze back and forth from the road to Casey. "Your relationship is just... I mean, don't you think you two are a little too serious with each other?" Nora asked, nodding at her slowly.

"Well... I..." Casey stalled, not sure what she was supposed to say.

"I mean, I understand that you think you're in love and that the world seems so small and insignificant in the face of what you have. That's how it is when you're young," Nora assured, turning onto another road. "But, sweetie, you can't lose sight of our long term plans. A top college, a career in psychology, the whole deal. You'll need to put your mind back on school for that."

"Psychology," Casey repeated, her face dazed. But she wanted to be a journalist! She wanted to write for newspapers on huge issues in the world. She wanted to one day have her own paper or magazine or book. Something that was all her own. Something that really made a different. Something that _she wrote_!

Nora clucked her tongue, sounding non-plussed. "We talked about this. Darrel's a top psychologist and he really thinks you have a knack for it. It's a great opportunity. He can help you when you're in college, he can train you to be the best at your job. Honey, it'll be perfect for you. You always said you wanted to help the world."

"By writing about it!" Casey said heatedly, feeling irritated. "By getting the issues out there and informing people of the world around them instead of letting them ignore it!"

"I know," Nora said, nodding. "But I really think this would be better for you. Writing is... It's not stable, Casey. It takes awhile to get yourself known. As a psychologist, Darrel can help you in the beginning, really get your name out there." She turned to her, shaking her head as they pulled in front of the high school. "I just think that you're focusing too much on your relationship with Derek and not enough on your future. I mean..." She laughed lightly, looking at her with a small smile, "Ten years from now, can you really see yourself as Casey Venturi? It's just unrealistic, sweetie. It's time to move on from that and start..."

Casey stopped listening, her mind blanking as she took in exactly what her mother had said. Casey _Venturi._ The Derek her mom and sister kept bring up, the one that she'd apparently been together with all this time, was Derek Venturi!? Her step brother! Except, in whatever dream world she was in, he wasn't. He was... He was her boyfriend? Wait! _What_?

"Casey? Casey, have you heard a thing I said?" Nora asked her, breaking into her thoughts.

"Huh? What?" Casey asked, turning to her and blinking rapidly. "Uh, yeah, sure. I gotta go. First day and all. I'll, um, see you after school." Hopping out of the car, she pulled her book bag over her shoulder and shut the door behind her. Lizzie was already half way across the walkway to the school, meeting up with a few girls Casey had never met before. Well, at least she knew what school she was in.

"Casey?" she heard her mom call out.

Turning around, she found Nora was staring at her with a rather annoyed expression on her face and holding her ringing cell phone. "Don't be late for dinner tonight. And please, _please_ don't bring Derek this time. You _know_ that Darrel and him don't get along," she emphasized.

"Yeah, okay, I'll be home for dinner," Casey agreed, feeling exasperated. "So, uh, what time is that again?"

Nora sighed, frowning at her. "I don't have time for this, Casey. You _know_ dinner is _always_ at 6. I realize your life isn't as scheduled as it used to be, but do you really need to put down the way Darrel schedules everything? He's only trying to create a better home for you. Could you please show a little more consideration?" she snapped.

Casey's shoulders slumped and her eyes rolled. She didn't know who this Darrel guy was, but she was really starting to _hate_ him. "Okay, whatever. I'll see you tonight," Casey muttered before turning on her heel and walking off toward the school. Halfway there, she heard her name being called. Turning around, expecting to hear another ridiculous argument with her mom, she was surprised to see Derek jogging toward her. She felt her stomach twist. What if he expected something more than her confused expression and crazy questions? Was she going to look foolish as she asked him what was going on? Would he make fun of her? She was reminded of the night before and her throat constricted. Did he really think that about her? She waited for him to catch up, her eyes darting around nervously. When was she going to wake up from this nightmare?

oTBCo

**A/N** _Hey guys! I should have a chapter to "For Marti," out within the next couple days. Hope this will tide you over. Gives you a certain vibe from the alterna-families and a look into the Dasey to come. Hope you enjoyed this! Be sure to review, I'd really like to know what you think._

o**BDT**o


	3. o2o

_**Some Things Were Meant To Be**_

o**2**o

As Derek crossed through the parking lot, turning the key chain back to lock the doors on the Lexus, he felt his book bag slap into his side. Frowning, he pulled up the top to see it filled with four large binders, each equipped with paper. There was a handful of pens, pencils, a highlighter, a couple white erasers, and a whiteout pen staring back at him. Throwing the flap back over his bag, he wondered if anybody else thought it was weird that _he_ apparently did homework. The air was rather cold for the morning, so he slipped his hands into the pouch of his hoodie, his eyes scanning the area for anybody he recognized. Where was Sam? Was he supposed to pick him up in the morning, too? Why wasn't this stupid dream ending? It had been going on forever. And how come everything felt so real? Was that rain? Did it just...? Looking up, he blinked as a raindrop fell in his eye. Great! It actually rains in his dreams! This was just... Shaking his head, he sped up a bit, wanting to get into school before the rain washed his hair out from its cool mess. As he got to the walkway, he looked up to see the back of a familiar girl walking away. He could hear someone shouting out behind him and turned to see Nora sitting in a Land Rover. She waved at him briefly, to which he nodded at, mostly in confusion. She gave up on her shouting and started talking on her cell phone as she drove off.

"Casey," he called out. He noticed her feet falter, but she kept moving. Sighing, he picked up his walking and shouted her name again. Finally, she stopped and turned around, looking peeved. However, when she saw it was him, her expression changed entirely. She almost looked... Scared? He frowned. She _was_ the Casey MacDonald everyone kept talking about, right? There weren't two in the school, were there? He stopped in front of her, feet shifting beneath him, though he kept his expression neutral. Dream or not, he wasn't about to look like an idiot in front of her. She'd probably use it against him. "Hey," he greeted, one of his hands itching in his pocket to reach out and run down the back of his hair nervously.

"Hi," she said, her voice rather high pitched. "Uh, so, last night was fun," she finally said, her eyes looking away and then turning back. "Sorry about... um... Darrel. He's..."

Derek frowned. Darrel? Who the hell was Darrel? Should he be jealous? Wait a minute, this wasn't real. So why was his gut twisting like that? "Darrel," he repeated, hoping it didn't sound as annoyed as he felt.

"Yeah," Casey said slowly, her eyes falling. "He's strict, I guess. So, sorry. Maybe we should just _not_ hang out at my house anymore. Right?" she asked, looking uncomfortable.

Derek's brows furrowed. Now he was really confused. Strict? So Darrel was _what_ exactly? "Uh sure. Yeah."

Casey stared at him a moment, chewing on her lower lip. "So... uh... how was your morning?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and lifting a brow questioningly.

"Weird," he replied without thinking.

"Weird?" she asked, her eyes widening slowly. "Like... Like _how_ weird?"

Derek's hand lifted out of his pocket then, going to the back of his head to rub at his neck. "Uh..."

"Wait..." Casey cleared her throat. "Okay... You know that last night you were over at my place, right?" she asked, but didn't wait for him to reply. "What did we do?" she asked, her eyes thinned with question.

Derek shifted on his feet. Why was she so suspicious? And what the hell happened last night? Putting things together, he tried to figure it out. So Darrel, whoever the hell he was, interrupted whatever they were doing. He was strict and he didn't want Derek around because... Well, most girl's fathers didn't want him around because he was a bad influence. But was Darrel a step-dad or something? He hoped so. He tried his best guess anyway. "We made out?" he asked, lifting his brows questioningly.

Casey snickered, rolling her eyes. "Anything else?"

"There was more?" At her glare, he backpedaled mentally. "Uh..." What did girls like to do that isn't making out? Scratch that... What did _Casey_ like to do? "We... talked about our... feelings?" he tried, frowning. Dude, if he did, dream-Derek was a total sap!

Casey huffed. "Oh my..." She sighed, shaking her head. "Derek... did you wake up to find a few people missing from your house?" she asked, biting her lip and staring up at him hopefully.

Derek's eyes lit up and his brows rose. "Wait! What? How did you...? Huh?" he sputtered, before realizing he must look like a complete idiot. "I mean, yeah. But I thought... I mean aren't you... Aren't you like part of this weird dream?" he wondered, shaking his head.

Casey looked around, as if checking to make sure nobody was close enough to hear. She stepped forward, tipping her head up so she could talk to him. "I'm not so sure this is a dream," she admitted, conflict staring brightly out from her eyes. Her mouth twisted with worry and he suddenly felt like he should hug her or somehow comfort her, but he shrugged that feeling off. He wasn't the type.

"That's... That's impossible," he told her, his hands reaching out, wrapping around her upper arms as if he was going to shake her. Instead he squeezed them, staring down into her blue eyes and trying to find some kind of lie in there. But Casey was the worst liar he'd ever met in his life. She was incapable of doing it even if it meant losing marks in school. "Casey... Everything is all screwed up! My brother is a jerk who doesn't seem to like me, Marti gets constantly overlooked, my dad doesn't seem to pay attention to any of us, and I apparently have a stepmother that I hate. I don't even know her," he said, his voice low but emphatic.

"I know!" she said, nodding. "Lizzie's not allowed to play soccer! My mom barely puts up with me, she seems to think that I don't work hard enough in school. Apparently my grades have dropped a tiny bit and she blames it all on you. She's married to some guy name Darrel who's, like, a health freak. There was no cereal to eat this morning Derek, because he thinks it's too sugary and unhealthy. So you know what I had to have? Yogurt! And you know what it tasted like? Glue!" she told him, her breathing picking it up. Was it wrong to think she looked really attractive in that moment? Shaking his head, he tried to pay attention to her. Sympathetic attention, rather than hormonal. "They're pressuring me to be a psychologist! They don't care that I want to be a journalist at all. All they care about is making sure I become just like Darrel. A man I hate!"

"Okay... Okay, so what the hell is going on then? I don't get it. If it's not a dream then what is it?" he asked, looking around quickly. School was probably going to start soon. What were they supposed to do?

"I don't know... I don't..." She lifted her hands, pressing them against her temples. "Okay... all right, what if... What if what we said last night came true?" she asked him, looking up at him questioningly.

"What? That you were going to become a medicated suburban mom?" he asked, shaking his head. "Little early for that, don't you think? Unless you have something to tell me," he said, smirking down as his hand fell to pat her flat stomach.

Scowling, Casey glared at him. "No, _genius_, I meant when we both shouted that we wished our parents had never met," she reminded, her hands reaching out to curl around his hoodie. "What if we got our wish? What if... What if this is like a world where our parents never met?" Her eyes widened, brows lifting. He couldn't tell if she was excited or scared.

"Then why aren't we three years younger and why don't I have the memories to fit that?" he asked, shaking his head. "Why would we just suddenly appear in this world with no understanding of it? Shouldn't we _know_ all about it if we lived it?" he asked, annoyed. This could not be happening. This was... This was _impossible_! Things like this happened in the movies, not on the first day of his senior year! He was supposed to be looking forward to parties and hot girls with tight outfits. To finishing out school as quickly as possible and playing in the hockey championships for a scholarship. This was all way too surreal.

Casey bit her lip. "Okay... well what if we're just allowed to see what this world was like, right? Like, have you ever seen that movie, "The Family Man," where Nicholas Cage wakes up one day and he married the woman he loved years before and he has a whole family and a job that was nothing like the one he had in reality?" she stared at him, but he shook his head.

"Sounds like a chick flick," he told her, smirking.

Sighing, Casey rolled her eyes. "Okay, so we'll rent it later and you'll watch it. The point is, at the end of the movie, he like woke up and he was back to his normal life. But he_ liked_ what he had. He liked waking up to the family and the wife and even the crappy job, because it was better than being alone and not having any of it." She shook her head, "One of the children knew though. They were all like, "You're not really my daddy, are you?" So that means that she had memories of him, she knew a man that wasn't the guy standing there. So... so these people know Casey and Derek who've been together two years and don't hate each other. They don't know anything about the step siblings that fight all the time or anything like that."

"Why did he go along with it?" Derek wondered, not realizing that his hand was sitting comfortably on her hip now. "Why didn't he just blow it all off and leave? Wait to wake up?" Okay, so he admittedly hadn't come right out that morning and started asking questions that could potentially make him look insane. But he thought it was a dream then. What the hell was he supposed to do in an alternate world?

"Maybe he thought if he went along with it, it would end sooner. And then there's that whole 'If you mess something up in the alternate world, will it affect your world?' thing," she said, shrugging. Her eyes were looking around frantically as her mind was processing everything and he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to know what she was thinking. Maybe they were just having the same dream. Okay, or maybe he was being just a tiny bit unrealistic. He sighed, might as well just ask her, there was no point in worrying all day about whether or not everything he did or said was going to do something wrong. Then he'd have her yelling at him and everybody would think he was nuts.

"What do you mean?" he asked, lifting his brow.

"Like, if we don't go along with it, if we don't pretend to be these people and we mess it all up, then... then couldn't something be affected? Like the whole theory on time travel, right? If you went back in time and stepped on a bug, it could alter the world as you knew it. So what if we did something here, like... like broke this Casey and Derek up... couldn't it do something to our world? Like one of us not be born or something." She shook her head, looking confused herself. "There are so many things wrong with this. And... And if we're here, where are the Casey and Derek that are supposed to be here? Are they in our world? Because if they are, we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do when we get back!" she told him, her eyes wide. "Or are they just waiting to get back here, like on pause or something. And when we go back, will it be a day ahead? Will the time we've already spent here have been spent there? Do they think we're missing there? I mean--"

"Case," Derek interrupted, shaking her slightly. "Slow down," he told her, shaking his head and staring at her mildly worried. "Take a breath. We'll just... We'll go along with this for a little while, see what else is in store. I gotta tell you though, so far, the home life is pretty bad." He frowned, thinking back to the unusual morning. Sure he got a cool car, but he'd never forget how forlorn Marti had looked sitting at the table. And what was up with Edwin? Moody or what?

"Agreed," she said, nodding.

The grounds around them were virtually empty and Derek stared at the school uncomfortably for a moment. "All right, so..." He cleared his throat, looking around. "We'll just..." He sidestepped around her and grabbed her hand. "Come on. We have to get our schedules and go to class."

Casey looked down at their joined hands and then up at Derek, who was studiously ignoring her gaze. Could she tell that it didn't bother him? That he sort of liked holding her hand? She relaxed beside him, falling into step and adjusting the shoulder strap of her bag. "Your bag looks like it has actual books in it," she pointed out, sounding rather amused.

"Yeah," Derek said with a sigh. "Apparently _this_ Derek does his homework and does well in class." He snorted, smirking over at her.

"Really? Too bad that's not part of our world," she teased, squeezing his hand.

Trying not to smile, Derek opened the door and waited for her to walk through first. He wondered how everybody in the school was going to react. He was almost waiting for somebody to jump out and say, "_Dude, that's your step sister_!" But it didn't happen. The only attention they got was of the good kind. A few guys from his hockey team called out hey to both of them and Casey looked surprised that they knew her name. Various girls still stared up at him in awe and Derek watched as their jealousy burned a hole in Casey, who was waving and smiling at people as they greeted her friendly. "Uh, d'you think our lockers are still the same?" she wondered, leaning toward him to ask quietly.

Derek shrugged, directing her toward where his had always been. She leaned against the lockers as he undid his lock and pulled it open. It was virtually empty, aside from a few pictures of him and Casey on the side. He stared at them a moment, taking in how happy alternate world them looked. Arms wrapped around each other, they were grinning out like Christmas had just come early. There were the customary booth pictures taken of the two of them, a strip taped to the side of the locker with them making faces as she sat on his lap. His eyes settled on the one with them kissing and he wondered when they would have to. For the benefit of their alternate and the survival of themselves in reality... of course! He heard Casey calling his name and turned to her to find her staring up at him in confusion.

Shrugging, he pulled a few of his books out and put them on the bottom shelf so he wouldn't have to carry the full weight of them on his shoulder all day. "So I was thinking, since we only have a few minutes and I don't want to look like a weirdo if I try looking for my locker and find out it isn't mine, I should just keep my things in yours. I already know your lock com and it's easy to find," she said, nodding.

"Yeah, sure, just don't fill it up with girly things," he warned, lifting a brow.

"Because having all these pictures of us isn't a little bit sentimental for you," she said, smiling at him as she pulled a few books out and put them on the top shelf. Derek rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he waited for her to lock the combination. When she was done organizing the top shelf, she took his hand and tugged him down the hallway. "So, grade twelves pick up their schedule in Miss. Peterson's class, right?" she asked, looking up at him.

Derek shrugged. "I dunno. I usually just follow the kids I know are in my grade to whatever classroom."

Sighing, Casey rolled her eyes and directed them to the science department. There was a line coming out of the door, so they moved to the back and leaned against the wall. "No leather jacket today?" she said, turning to him and tugging on the front of his hoodie.

"Nope. Took me awhile to find this," he admitted nodding down to his attire. "Everything was put away, it was weird. My clothes were folded and in their drawers or hanging up in the closet. Except for those that had made it into the laundry basket." He shook his head, his eyes wide. "I don't know. This alterna-Derek, he's a bit of a goody-goody. Doing his homework, steady girlfriend, cleans his room. It's... weird."

Casey laughed, smiling up at him in a way she rarely did. "You should take tips."

Derek scoffed, rolling his eyes. A group of girls walked by, each of them quite obviously checking him out. He smirked, well at least he was still the most wanted guy in the school. Casey turned, seeing that his attention was diverted and watched as the girls faces fell before they hurried off. "Seems this Derek is still a babe magnet." A tall, leggy blonde passed him, grinning at him. "Maybe more so than usual."

Casey lifted a brow. "It's probably because you're with me," she told him, shrugging one shoulder.

Derek snorted. "Vain today, are we Casey?"

She chuckled. "No. Logical. It's common sense that girls have a tendency of wanting guys that are already taken. Married men, committed boyfriends. It's like a game. The girl knows that he's interested in being with one girl only, so she wants him. If she thinks she's better than the girlfriend, than she tries to prove it by stealing him away. Some try, others just lust after them." She shrugged, looking through a personal planner and taking a step to her side as the line moved.

Derek thought back to when he was dating Kendra and remembered how many more girls were eyeing him. "Okay... Maybe..." he admitted, following her ahead. He grinned, "Are you worried at all?"

Casey looked up at him from her book. "Not really. The consequences for you if you choose to mess around are probably enough to warn you off of doing it." She shrugged one shoulder, turning a page in her planner. "And if they're not, well, when I get back to our world, I'll be sure to paint your bedroom, which will then be _my_ bedroom, because you won't _exist_, a bright and cheerful purple. In your commemoration, or course!" She grinned at him, a saccharine smile.

Derek frowned at her. "_Thanks_," he replied sarcastically. "Doesn't matter anyway. We'll probably be out of here by tomorrow morning. I think I can handle being your boyfriend that long." Or longer, he thought, but she didn't need to know that.

Casey nodded absently. "Well, since we don't know how long we'll be here, we should try and find out as much as we can about our alternate selves. That way he don't come off looking out of place," she said, leaning in close to him so others couldn't hear. His arm moved to wrap around her shoulders so they'd look more comfortable while they talked and people wouldn't question why a couple of two years were acting like they'd never held each other before.

"How are we gonna do that without raising suspicions?" he wondered, tipping his head down to speak quietly. She looked up from her book and for a moment, with her mouth so near and her eyes meeting his directly, he was thrown of balance by how easily he could kiss her. He felt her shiver beneath his arm but wasn't sure what it was from.

She swallowed, her eyes falling for a moment before rising to meet his again. "Well, we just have to choose people we trust to talk to. Sam, Emily, Edwin, Lizzie. Those types. I mean... they're the closest to us. They'll listen, right?" she asked, her voice breathy.

"Yeah, sure. After school, we'll just..." He paused, his eyes flickering off. "Oh yeah, uh, we need to leave school early today," he told her, half-smiling.

"What?" she asked, her brows connecting in confusion. "Derek, it's the _first_ day!"

"I know, but I sort of promised Marti we'd pick her up from school. She doesn't like it when Kelly does. That's my step-mother. And she was upset all morning. Dad didn't even kiss her goodbye." He frowned, shaking his head. "She was all quiet and lonely, I couldn't say no. And she made me promise I'd bring you. She likes you, or something," he mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Casey frowned, "Why is George ignoring her?" she wondered quietly. "And what's so wrong with this Kelly woman? Do you know?"

"No idea. But from what dad said and how Edwin looked when we were talking about it, I must really hate her," he said, glowering.

"Well, we'll find out after school." In the background, the bell rand loudly and they looked around to see that the line ahead of them was all but gone. Walking into the classroom, they stopped at the desk of their teacher to pick up their schedules.

Smiling, Miss Peterson looked through the pile and handed Casey hers first, then Derek. "How was your summer? Did you take that road trip you were planning?" she wondered, looking up at them curiously from her desk.

Casey looked up at Derek, not sure how to reply. "Yeah," Derek said, nodding. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Gas prices were killer, but it was great to get out there. Freedom, right?" He smirked, "Only picked up three hitchhikers and just one of them was a serial killer."

Miss. Peterson laughed and Derek wondered why he wasn't already on his way to the office for the remark. "Oh, Mr. Venturi, I have missed that sense of humor of yours. It'll be a pleasure to have both you and Casey in my Advanced Biology class this year," she told them, happily.

Casey looked surprised but happy, and Derek wondered how he was going to get through the class if they had to stay longer than a day. "Yeah, really looking forward to it," he mumbled.

Casey tugged on his hand for them to leave and they waved goodbye to the teacher before exiting into the hallway. There was only a few students still standing around, most of the kids having already left for their first class. "What do you have?" she wondered, reaching out to pull his paper up.

"Advanced Biology, what was this Derek doing?" he asked, shaking his head and rolling his eyes upward in annoyance.

"Being smart," Casey replied offhandedly as she looked over his schedule. "Okay, so we have second and fourth period together. Which means it's going to be a little hard convincing our last class that we both need to leave." She sighed, frowning to herself.

"What class is it?" he wondered, looking down over her shoulder. "Calculus? Seriously! How did this guy manage to stay cool?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "You have a few good classes. Look, you have P.E. first this morning and before lunch you have a Business course. You've always wanted to run your own business, that should be helpful," she reminded, handing him his schedule.

"I guess," he muttered, his eyes wandering around the hallways, looking for Sam or somebody else he knew. "So what d'you have first?" Casey smiled up at him, handing over her schedule for him to look over. "Journalism, nice. Bet your mom isn't going to like that," he said, his eyes scanning up over Biology and landing on the other class she didn't have with him. "Photography. Hey, why didn't I get any easy courses like that?" Frowning, he handed hers back. "I've got three work courses and P.E, you have two work and two easy. What is this Derek kid on? Caffeine pills? How does he do all this?" he ranted, annoyed.

"Derek, if he got into those classes, he's got to be a really good student. Which means that obviously so are you, you just haven't put yourself into your work in the past," she told him, her hand lifting to pat his arm around her shoulder. "Now, do you know where the Journalism room is? Because I don't," she admitted, lifting a brow.

"Yeah, sure," he said, turning her down a hall and nodding at a few guys who jutted their head out in greeting. "Met a real cute red head in this room once," he told her, breaking the silence.

Casey looked up at him, non-plussed. "Before grade ten? Because if not, then this Derek never did. He would've been with me," she reminded.

Sighing, Derek frowned. "This guy has like, no fun," he muttered.

"That's not true. You're apparently still on the hockey team and Lizzie said last night you and I watched a hockey movie and hung out on the couch. I don't know _how_ you convinced me to watch it, but you did. So, your life isn't all bad. As far as I can tell, the Derek and Casey from this world have a really strong relationship," she told him, slowing as they reached the Journalism class.

"Yeah, well, we'll find out for sure after school. Emily lives right next door, we can ask her. I can't find Sam anywhere," he said, frowning. "When we were hanging out last night, he said he'd meet me at the front door, see if we had any cool classes together."

"Yeah," she said nodding slowly, "but in this world, you spent your night with me, not Sam, remember?"

Derek sighed, shrugging one shoulder.

The second bell rang in the background and Casey shifted on her feet. "You better go, you're already late. I'll meet you at your locker, we can walk to Biology together."

Derek nodded, before looking over her shoulder to see various people in the classroom, watching them. If he was supposed to be _their_ Derek, then they were probably waiting for something a whole lot more than a nod goodbye, right? So he'd be totally justified in kissing her goodbye, wouldn't he? He wasn't really one for PDA, but what if alterna-Derek was? Sighing lightly, he stared down at Casey who was looking up at him questioningly. "Don't slap me, it would look bad for the audience," he warned, lifting his brows.

"Why would I--?" she started, but was cut off when Derek's mouth descended on hers.

She didn't struggle like he was worried she might. She didn't do much of anything really, since it only lasted maybe half a minute. Her hands were lifted though and he felt them land heavily on his arms, as if holding him close, but not quite. He wasn't sure if it was because she was dazed or putting on a show. She tasted like mint toothpaste and smelled faintly like vanilla. He pulled back an inch and then leaned in and pecked her lips again, unable to stop himself. There was a tingling sensation in his lips that he'd never felt before and he wondered if he looked as happily surprised as he felt. His hand was holding her cheek, cupping it in a rather romantic gesture that he was surprised fit them so well. His thumb reached out, rubbing against her bottom lip. He tried to smirk, but felt like it was more of a grin than anything. "Try to pretend that happens all the time," he reminded, licking his lips and tasting strawberry lip gloss. "I'll see you after class."

Nodding, Casey looked up at him, smiled lightly and gave him a nudge to get him going. Dropping his hand, he looked back at her over his shoulder while walking off toward the gym. Searching around through his bag, he was grateful when he found some shorts and a t-shirt to wear since he didn't want to be walking around all sweaty the rest of the day. He found himself looking back every few steps, as if trying to catch a glimpse of Casey even though she had already entered her classroom. Shaking his head, he told himself to stop being a sap and picked up the pace to get to class.

oOo

Casey's first class went by so quickly, she felt like she had just sat down before the bell went. Her mind was buzzing and she didn't think she caught a single word the teacher had told her. Who knew Derek could kiss so... perfectly? she thought. She took a seat at the back, pretending to take notes on whatever the teacher was saying, while really she found her mind wandering. Everything was so out of place in this world. She was surprised that had her mom and Derek's dad not met, she and Derek would have ended up dating. Could that really be how it was? Would she still have gone to his school? And how did they meet if not through their parents? Why did they work out so great as a couple but suck so much as step siblings? They could hardly stand each other in her world, so what was different about this one? Was their rivalry really based only on the fact that they didn't want to be step siblings? Could they have been friends or even more if their parents really hadn't gotten together? It seemed... surreal.

Her mouth was still tingling. An hour and a half later and she swore she could still feel the pressure of his lips against hers. He tasted like cinnamon toothpaste and Honeycomb cereal. It didn't sound pleasant and yet somehow it wound up tasting incredible. And he smelled so good! She felt herself sigh and wondered if her thoughts were transparent. She looked around the classroom to find that everybody was paying all of their attention to the teacher. She didn't recognize most of them by name. Their faces were vaguely familiar but they weren't people her or Derek really hung out with. When the bell rang, she pulled her bag up onto her shoulder and walked out quickly. She had to force herself to slow down, that Derek would notice something was going on if she was practically running to meet him.

People kept waving at her and smiling. She was hearing people call out her name constantly and it was beginning to hurt her neck, turning so much to greet people. How did Derek put up with it and why was this Casey so much more liked than she was? Crossing her arms, she turned down the hallway leading to Derek's locker and smiled at somebody else she didn't recognize who was calling out hello. Derek was already at the locker, his hoodie thrown over his shoulder as he stuck his bag inside the small space and pulled down a binder. One of his hands lifted and ran through his hair absently and she wasn't deaf so she heard the girls sighing as they walked by. Rather amused, she simply shook her head. She knew he was good looking, and at times he was even funny, but sigh worthy? Really? He was just a normal guy. A regular seventeen year old. He wasn't a celebrity or anything. Seriously!

Walking up to him, she smiled lightly as he turned and smirked. "How was your first class?" he asked, leaning against the lockers next to his.

Casey hoped she wasn't blushing. "It was good. Mostly note taking. First day and all," she told him, stuffing her unused binder onto the top as she pulled another down. No reason to tell him she hadn't gotten any work done because of their kiss. He didn't need to know. He'd probably boast about it for the rest of the year and she'd never hear the end of it. "Yours?"

Derek's smirk faltered slightly, but he nodded, his eyes turning off. "Yeah, it was fine. Played basketball, ran the gym a couple times. The usual." He shrugged, turning back to her. "I bet you're looking forward to _Advanced Biology_," he said, lifting his brows to emphasize it. He snorted, shaking his head as he stood up. "This Derek kid better hope this alternate world crap ends soon, or he's going to end up failing out of high school," he said, his shoulders drooping slightly. He was smirking, as if to hide the fact that he really didn't think he was capable of taking on such big courses and Casey felt bad that he was put into such a heavy position.

"Don't worry," she told him, locking the combination and taking his hand, hoping he assumed it was just part of their act and not her sudden need to touch him. "It's the first day, you have nothing to worry about. Nobody in that classroom knows anything more than you. We can study and do our homework together for as long as we're here. And we have Calculus together, it'll be fine, Derek." She smiled at him, bumping his side with her hip. "Besides, we all know you're really smart underneath the slacker facade."

He snickered, but he did look a little more comfortable with everything. He didn't thank her, but she knew he was grateful for having her there so she let it go. On their way to Biology class, Casey spotted Emily walking down the hall with a girl she didn't recognize. Her smile lit up and she squeezed Derek's hand. "Hey Emily," she called out, waving her hand and waiting for her best friend to excitedly greet her.

Emily's brows lifted high on her forehead and her mouth fell open, making her look like a gaping fish. "H-Hey Casey," she sputtered. Her large grin suddenly vanished and she looked like she was trying to act a little less astonished. She turned her head and half-smiled, "Hey Derek," she added, her eyes glimmering with excitement. While Casey was surprised by the rather odd reaction, she was even more shocked when Emily continued walking. Emily and the unknown girl began whispering to each other, or more like girlish shrieking that Casey could just barely make out.

"Oh my god, Casey MacDonald knows your name! And Derek totally nodded at you," the girl said, grinning at Emily with wide eyes.

"Well, Derek does live next door and Casey's always over at his house. But, I mean, I didn't think they knew my name," Emily replied, sounding a little less excited, almost nonchalant, but her grin completely gave her away.

"Uh..." Casey frowned, looking up at Derek in confusion.

"I guess Emily's off our list of people to talk to about our little problem," Derek muttered, shrugging his shoulder.

"But... I mean... If I'm not Emily's best friend, then who _am_ I friends with?" she asked, her eyes wide and worried. Emily had been basically her only friend while she was at school. Sure she got along with a few others. There were the odd kid from her classes that she talked to and she had various acquaintances. Her and Sam were comfortable with each other since their break up a year and a half ago. But Emily was who she spent all of her time hanging out with. She was the one she talked to on the phone, spent all of her lunch hours with, enjoying shopping and movies with. Emily was her study buddy and, although she mostly read magazines, did her homework with Casey. If it wasn't Emily she did all the usual best friend stuff with then who did she spend all of her time with? Who was her best friend?

Derek let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his side. "I'm sure she's somewhere in the school. She'll probably find you at lunch or something," he offered, shrugging. "Don't worry. She's only not your friend in _this_ world, right?"

Casey frowned, her brows creasing as she looked up at him. "But what if we never leave this world? What if we're stuck here forever?" she asked worriedly.

Derek sighed. "Well, maybe your new best friend is just as... odd as Emily."

"Odd? Emily is not odd!" she protested.

"She's a little obsessive," Derek reminded, lifting his brows accusingly. "She's always watching me and talking about me and following me... Yeah, she's pretty odd." He nodded at her, giving a short chuckle of amusement.

Scoffing, Casey rolled her eyes. "Whatever. That doesn't matter. I don't want a different best friend!"

"I don't know what you want me to tell you, Casey. I can't change this world. This is how it is, we just gotta wait it out." He shrugged, shaking her shoulder slightly. "We'll be outta here soon and you can get back to hanging out with Eccentric Emily."

"Der-ek!" she exclaimed, frowning over her smile. Despite the fact that he was being kind of rude, he was making her feel better. She knew she should probably tell him to stop being a jerk, but she felt less like she was alone now. And if she wasn't going to have Emily around to make light of things, then she'd just have to get used to Derek's way of taking the pressure off of volatile situations. He was... _okay_ at it. Coming out of her thoughts, she found they were moving across the Biology classroom. "We're not sitting in the back," she hissed to him, shaking her head. "That's where the slackers sit and the alterna-us are _not_ slackers! Not that I ever was."

He snorted, "No way am I sitting in the front. That's where all the teacher's pets sit," he retorted.

"Middle then," she compromised, slowing as they came to the third row.

Sighing, Derek nodded, sliding into a seat on the far side with a clear view out the window. Casey sat down in front of him, disliking being so far away from the teacher. She usually sat up front and center, it was unusual to sit so far back. Okay, so she was only... one seat back and three seats over, but still! Did the Casey here answer every question? From what her mom said that morning she wasn't as hard pressed when it came to grades as she usually was. Apparently she didn't fight with her teachers over a few grade points and just accepted her grade as is. But she still got straight A's, so it wasn't like she was a bad student. Not in the least! Pulling out her binder, she opened it to a fresh page and put her name and date in the top right corner.

"Good morning," Miss. Peterson said as she rose from her seat. "For those of you who haven't taken my class in the past, I'm Miss. Peterson, feel free to call me Miss. P. As you can see from the spaced seating, this course is only for those very dedicated to their studies. As the announcements stated earlier, this Friday is the latest you can transfer out. To be blunt, only about 75 percent of students who come to this class, pass. That means one out of every four of you is not meant to take this class." Casey felt a tug at her hair and turned to see Derek staring at her with wide, serious eyes.

She turned back around and tore a piece of paper out of her binder, scribbling on it. "_We talked about this. I'll help you! You don't have anything to worry about. You're smart, Derek! Besides... I can point out the quarter right now. Two boys in the back row, sitting off to the corner. The ones drawing. They won't pass. And the girl in the middle row, five seats over. Yeah... she skips waaay too much. I remember her from my AP Calculus class. I'm surprised she got into this class. Actually... I'm surprised she made it to senior year. And lastly, there's the girl behind you, the one playing with her hair and chipping the nail polish off her fingers. There you go. That's a quarter of the class who won't pass and you're not part of it. You'll be fine. I promise!"_ Folding it up, she turned around and while dropping it on Derek's desk, kept her attention on the teacher.

"...For those of you who will pass, this course is an incredible asset to your college resume. There will be a lot of work, but all of it is very vital. There will be hands-on demonstrations and numerous informative videos. If you are having any problems, feel free to come see after school or during lunch and we can go over the work." Miss. Peterson turned on the overhead and put up a page titled 'Table of Contents'. "At the end of the semester, your binders will be taken in to be given a mark on how organized they are. I expect the Table of Contents to be at the front and every assignment to follow it. You will separate your binders by assignments, worksheets, and tests. There should be no loose papers and no missing work. This will account for a good portion of your final grade."

Casey noticed the scrap of paper being passed back to her and covered it with her palm, turning back around in her seat. "_Yeah, but everybody else probably took Biology to begin with. I took Earth Science, Case! EARTH SCIENCE! And I think you were a little hard on the slacking artists in the back. They look... very smart! I know that girl that skips "waaay" too much. When she comes to class, she's a total genius. She may just surprise you and pass! And the girl behind me... Yeah, she totally just flicked some of her nail polish at me. It hit my neck! I think it's green. Who wears green nail polish? Even if you're right, this year could be worst than all the rest. I'll become the first kid to make it more than a 75 percent failure rate. And to top it all off, people will be surprised. They'll be wondering why the Derek they knew suddenly got dumb!_"

"Miss Tyler, could you and Mr. Jacobs please pass out the Biology texts to everyone?" Miss Peterson asked, drawing Casey's attention as she hurried to write back to Derek. She frowned, usually _she_ handed out the books to everyone.

She found herself shivering as she set to work writing back. There was a draft in the old science classroom and she'd left her sweater in Derek's locker. "_You're being way too hard on yourself. Just give today a chance and if you really think you can't handle the class, we'll go to the office and change you out, all right? But I really think you should give it a try. It's probably not as bas as she says. Remember Mr. Tarcott? He said he was one of the hardest markers in the school and even that kid who came to class once a week and spent half of that day in the bathroom managed to pass with a C! It's the first day, there's probably just going to be some reading and outlining of the course. Really, Derek, nobody is going to think you're dumb! And ew... green nail polish is ugly. Why would anybody even **buy** that?_" As the girl handing out the textbooks passed by her desk, Casey turned around and dropped the note on Derek's before turning back to her binder and writing out the Table of Contents quickly.

When she was done, Casey turned to the page Miss. Peterson told them to and leaned forward in her seat. Their only assignment for the day was to read the Introduction and Chapter One. Feeling a tug on her hair, she held her arm back to accept the note and then smoothed it out over the pages of the book. "_Fine. I'll give it until Thursday. But if I feel like I'm falling behind at any time, I'm leaving! And Mr. Tarcott was a total dork! He acted all tough and mean, but he was always letting everybody get away with everything. Like when Kendra cried because she got whiteout on her new shirt. He told her she could take the rest of the class off! What the hell!?! And the nail polish looks like vomit. Are you cold?_" Casey found herself smiling with each reply she received. It was oddly nice how easily they were able to talk when they weren't fighting.

Turning the paper over to write back, she glanced around to make sure nobody was paying attention. She felt sort of rebellious writing notes in class. It was the first day and she was already slacking off. She sighed mentally. Miss. Peterson was currently writing something in a course book up at her desk and paying them no attention while three-quarters of the class read and the other quarter drew, played on their cell phone, and read a book that wasn't the text recommended. "_Okay. Agreed. But if you do have any problems, we can work on them, rather than going straight to trading the class. Who knows, you might grow to like it! I remember that time with Kendra! That was an ugly shirt to begin with! Mr. Tarcott had preferences though. You'll notice that a week later when Lisa F. (who is totally less, well, attractive) cried because her pen had exploded in her backpack and ruined all her homework, Mr. Tarcott told her she had that class only to redo it and if she didn't hand it in by the end, then she was going to fail the assignment! I don't really like nail polish. Unless it's for special occasions. Usually I just leave my nails bare. What's the point? And yeah, it's really drafty in here. Why are science classes always so cold?_" Casey tossed it over her shoulder and returned her attention to reading. A moment later, she found Derek's hoodie being held over her shoulder. Smiling at him, she slipped it on and crossed her arms, reveling in the instant warmth that wrapped around her.

They exchanged notes for the rest of the class, discussing teachers as they knew them from _their_ world and weird things Derek found in the Biology text. He somehow managed to find the oddest sentences about the most unusual creatures and wrote them to her. Casey was forced to smother her laughter with her hand and ignore the looks she was getting from a few of the students around her. When the bell rang, she'd only gotten halfway through the first chapter, but didn't mind. She and Derek left the classroom behind the others, their hands moving to hold each other's automatically as they made their way over to his locker. They had a twenty minute break before Derek had to go to his Business class and Casey had to make her way to Photography. As they leaned against the lockers, Derek gave her one of his apples since she hadn't brought anything to eat, given that there was nothing at home. They moved down the hall to sit on a bench and leaned back against the wall, discussing what they were going to do to get out of Calculus. Before they could get far in their conversation however, a few of his hockey buddies showed up to talk to him. Casey leaned back, chewing on her apple, simply tuning out as they horsed around and chatted about plays and practices.

"Casey!" an excited and cheerful voice called out. Sitting up, Casey looked around. A girl, with bright blonde hair and her arms open wide was running toward her. "Okay, you are never going to believe the summer I had! You're going to wish you never passed up on coming to T-Dot as soon as you hear what all happened!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Casey and hugging her excitedly. As she pulled back and sat down next to her, ready to spill out her exciting summer holiday, Casey stared at her in confusion. Feeling Derek's hot breath on her neck, she turned slightly.

"I think we know who your best friend here is," he whispered against her ear before chuckling. Casey's eyes thinned, but she didn't say anything as he'd turned his attention back to his hockey buddies. She felt his hand on her leg, patting her thigh in comfort. When he didn't remove it, she simply leaned back against the wall and listened to the nameless girl chatter happily. She was talking a mile a minute and hardly letting Casey get a word in edgewise. For some reason though, Casey got the feeling that her and the blonde weren't so much best friends as Casey just put up with her. She felt bad for having such negative thoughts about a girl she didn't really know, but couldn't help it. Listening to the girl talk was exhausting though and Casey couldn't help but wonder when it would end. She found her hand had moved to cover Derek's on her leg, fingers slipping between his. He didn't appear to notice or just didn't care and continued laughing at something one of his friends was saying.

Finally, the bell rang and the unknown blonde rose from the bench. She hugged Casey quickly, told her they simply _had_ to talk later that night, and then hurried off to her next class. Casey heaved a loud sigh, grateful for the silence. Derek nodded goodbye to his friends and they walked back to his locker to get their things for the next class. Since Derek's was closer than Casey's and on the same floor, she walked him to class instead of him going all the way up to the Photography department. She figured he wouldn't insist on another kiss goodbye, but she was surprised when he pulled her closer and met her lips in a soft embrace. She felt her shoulders fall immediately and her body melt forward to him. She could hardly hear the students scurrying past her to get into the Business class. He broke away first, smiling at her, his hand tugging on her hair before he turned and walked into his class. Clearing her throat, Casey shook off the sudden halt to her every thought and forced herself to keep moving. She told herself that it was a natural reaction to be a little surprised when kissed. No matter who was doing the kissing. It wasn't as if she _liked_ him kissing her, per se. Sighing, she decided it was best not to think about it at all.

Hurrying upstairs, she navigated her way the halls, looking for her Photography class, telling herself it was normal to purposely inhale the scent of Derek from the hoodie of his she was still wearing. Wow... she almost regretted shouting at him the night before about his showering habits. An hour was totally worth it if he smelled like _this_. Walking into the classroom, Casey spotted the nameless blonde once more, waving her over to a seat and grinning excitedly as she took it. She couldn't help but wonder what else that day had in store for her, because so far the only good part of the alternate world were the kisses she was denying actually made her weak in the knees. That was totally understandable, right?

oTBCo

**A/N** _Hope you enjoyed this! I'll try and update soon. The next chapter of For Marti is nearly finished! Be sure to review, I'd really like to know what you think!_

o**BDT**o


	4. o3o

_**Some Things Were Meant To Be**_

o**3**o

Derek's Business class was actually pretty interesting. He wondered if he managed to get the class back in his time and decided if he hadn't, he was definitely going to get a transfer into it. The teacher was one he'd never had, a Mr. Seater that was fairly young and not as strict as some of the other teachers. He talked a bit about what the course had in mind, how great it was going to look on college resumes and warned them that if they wanted to get anywhere in the business world, they had to have a strong mind for delegating, hard work, numbers, and that it could be a grueling task getting anywhere for the first while. Derek actually took notes! He was a little surprised with himself, but he really wanted to have his own business some day, so he figured learning it all and remembering it was the first step. He chose to sit in the middle row, because he knew what Casey said about the back being for slackers was kind of important for a guy who was in a world where he was smarter than the average Derek Venturi. When nobody looked at him weirdly for not sitting in the back or front, he figured he'd made the right choice. The class size was fairly small, mostly kids that Derek didn't really recognize. A few girls sat in a cluster near the door, whispering when he first walked in and shooting him glances as the teacher talked.

Smirking to himself, he studiously ignored them, though he could feel their eyes watching his every move. He wondered if the alterna-Derek was really all that faithful. It seemed he got a lot of attention from girls. But then, given what Casey said, it did make sense. The untouchable thing. He probably wouldn't have been as attractive if people knew that he wasn't so faithful. He wasn't planning cheating on Casey anyway, even if they were only in a fake relationship. It wasn't like he wasn't benefiting from it. The second time he'd kissed her, he clearly felt her kiss back. Whether she was doing it for show or not, she was _good_ at it. He'd thought about it in the past, when he entertained and admitted to the fact that he had a thing for her. That she was attractive in a strong, confident way. With her opinions never held back and her hands on her slim hips as she had no problem telling him why he was wrong. He was used to the submissive type, the girls that agreed with him because they felt so lucky to be with somebody considered so popular. Sure, Casey got on his nerves. A lot. But she pushed him too; she challenged him like every other girl hadn't. And while he wouldn't come right out and say it, or admit it very often to himself, he admired her to some extent. In both a physical and psychological way. Yeah, there were definitely some upsides to pretending to be her boyfriend. The alterna-Derek had a few perks, even if various parts of his life were dull or stressful.

When the bell rang, Derek slipped out of the classroom behind the girls who were still eyeing him. He could smell their perfume from a few feet back and cleared his throat when it threatened to choke him. Biting back a remark, he walked down the hallway toward his locker, nodding to various hockey buddies and a few girls who greeted him by name and without the wide-eyed gaze he was used to seeing on Emily. Seeing Sam walking toward him, he slowed down, a smirk emerging. "Hey Sammy boy," he said as his best friend got closer.

Sam's eyes thinned, his arms moving to cross over his chest. He sighed, looking irritated and Derek wondered what his problem was. "What now, Derek?" he asked, lifting a brow.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his hands slipping into his jean pockets as he stared up at Sam speculatively. He didn't want to get ahead of himself. He had no idea what the Sam and Derek friendship was like here, though he didn't think that something as non-related as his dad and Nora's marriage could affect him and Sam too.

Sam snorted, glaring at Derek. "Just get the prank over with," he muttered, shaking his head.

"What prank?" Derek asked, lifting a brow, his smirk wavering before he forced it into place. Dude, Sam was being totally unlike what he was used to. Usually he was mellow. Even when they got into little fights here or there, it didn't last long and he'd never been so... annoyed before.

Sneering, Sam rolled his eyes. "Right? That would just ruin the surprise, huh?" He laughed sardonically, his arms tightening against his chest. "Is this where you pretend you think we should start hanging out again. Tell me to meet you at the park or something. I show, you don't. You have a good laugh about it later."

So _not_ cool. Did alterna-Derek do that? "Dude, I wouldn't--"

"Right. Because _that's_ below you. But moving all of my stuff from my locker into the one by the grossest bathroom in the school, totally cool. And replacing my hockey gear with a ballet outfit, not above you at all. Oh, and of course, stealing my girlfriend, that was so okay for you." His face was darkening and Derek stood there, his shoulders tense. All right, so the first two, totally funny. He would've done that even if they weren't fighting, just because it was amusing. The last one though... He wouldn't have done that to Sam, would he? And did he mean Casey, because he assumed in this world they'd never dated. Casey had said they'd been together two years, so didn't that mean that Sam never would have had the chance to date her?

"I didn't--"

"Yeah, right. I didn't believe you then, so why would I believe you now." He shook his head, looking past Derek as if he were inconsequential. "Look, just get your stupid prank over with already."

"Whatever," Derek muttered, moving around him to walk off.

"Should I expect it later?" Sam called after him, still sounding irritated.

"Yeah, sure. If I told you different, you wouldn't believe me anyway," Derek said back, frowning at him as he continued down the hall, turning right at the corner. Heaving a heavy sigh, he ran a hand through his hair. Who the hell were they supposed to talk to about this shit now? And who was his best friend if it wasn't Sam? Nobody had come up to him more than the others. Most of the guys on the team weren't somebody he wanted to hang out with and play basketball or hockey with outside of school.

"Hey," he heard Casey's voice near him. Turning, he found her just a foot or so away. Her brows furrowed and her hand reached out, wrapping around his upper arm. "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head, Derek stopped at his locker, turning the com and opening it. "Guess who's _not_ my best friend?" he asked, scowling.

"Sam?" she said, her voice surprised.

"Ding, ding, ding," he murmured, annoyed. Not really at her but at the situation on a whole. Stuffing his books inside, he crossed his arms and leaned back against the lockers next to his as she put her binders inside and locked it up for them.

"But... Why?" she asked, lifting a brow questioningly. "It doesn't make sense."

"He says I stole his girlfriend," Derek told her, his hand finding hers as they made their way toward the cafeteria for lunch.

"His girlfriend? But... I thought... You didn't date anybody he was with before I showed up, did you?" she asked, turning to him, her face twisted with confusion.

Derek shook his head. "I don't think so. I mean, there were a few girls, but he wasn't with anybody serious as far as I know. He didn't date much until that whole thing with you, but you said we were together for the past two years. Right?" They moved down the middle of the hall, Derek was used to having people move out of the way, but Casey was apologizing and trying to dodge people so she wasn't a hindrance.

"Yeah, Lizzie said this morning that mom's been nagging me about my grades for the last two years. Ever since you became a part of my life. Well... what if we didn't date right away? Like what if I didn't say yes when you first asked or--" She stopped when he smirked disbelievingly at him. "What? You've never been denied?" she asked, looking surprised.

"No," he replied seriously, shaking his head. "Case, I'm the most popular guy at the school and... hello, look around you." He motioned to the girls and guys walking past. Various guys were calling out 'hey' or nodding to him, while the girls were all looking over at him with admiring eyes and small smiles.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Okay, so you have a mini fan base. But really, not _every_ girl could like you _that_ way. There has to be _someone_!"

"Uh, yeah, that _one_ girl would have been you! At least in _our_ world," he reminded, his brows high for emphasis. "But here you are, holding my hand and completely in love with me." He sighed, looking smug.

Snorting, Casey shook her head. "Don't flatter yourself, Casanova."

Before Derek could reply, he felt a hand grab his arm and yank him to the side. Giving a small yelp, Casey was pulled along with him until they were standing in a dark room, the door shut tight behind them. Derek banged his knee on something when he came to a stop and muttered a curse word. "Okay, really, Casey, if you wanted to make out, you could've just said something."

"Der-ek!" Casey exclaimed and though he couldn't see her, he knew she was rolling her eyes. He wondered if she was blushing and found himself smirking. She was _totally_ blushing! He found himself thinking about how flushed her face got when they argued and didn't realize she was talking to him until she smacked his arm. "Weren't you listening? I said I didn't push us in here, you pulled me in here. So if you didn't _purposely_ pull me, then logically--"

"I get it, somebody else did," he interrupted, sighing. "Well, as overly dramatic as this is, you mind telling us why you pulled us in here. Because seriously, not into a three way. Well unless--" He felt her smack his chest and laughed. "Right, _not_ into a three way. Under _any_ circumstance." Although Angelina Jolie came to mind and he wasn't objecting...

The lights suddenly flickered on and they found themselves staring at Sheldon Schlepper, who was surrounded by electrical devices and various coloured wires that weren't all connected to something but lying useless on the floor in a tangle. Oddly, the rather weird guy wasn't saying anything. He was simply standing, his arms crossed and his eyes thinned as he stared at them. Beeping came from one of the machines and toast popped up. Caught off guard by the sudden movement, Casey jumped and stepped closer to him. She regained her confidence however and cleared her throat impatiently.

"Uh, is there a reason you dragged us in here, Schlepper?" Derek asked, lifting a brow questioningly.

"Don't be rude. We don't know how _we_ treat Sheldon here," Casey whispered to him, tugging on the bottom of his shirt.

"UH HAH!" Sheldon suddenly exclaimed and Casey took a step back, her brows furrowed.

"Okay, no matter what world we're in, he's really unusual."

"I don't have time for this. It's Pizza day in the caf," Derek muttered, rolling his eyes. "What do you want, Schlepper?" he asked, his face becoming bored. "Make it quick. I have things to do. Like eating."

"_You_, whoever you are, are _not_ Casey MacDonald and Derek Venturi!" he accused, lifting a hand and pointing at them.

"Uh, what?" Casey asked, giving off a shaky laugh.

Derek snorted. "Somebody's been watching too much Star Trek," he accused, his face straight.

Sheldon shook his head quickly, waving his hands around almost frantically. "No, no, I know you're not. I've been watching you and you--"

"You've been _watching_ us?" Derek interrupted. "I think that's called stalking in some places, Schlep." Chuckling stiffly, he wrapped a casual arm around Casey's shoulders, hoping she would calm down, since she looked way too worried. "If you're done, we've gotta head to lunch." He turned, reaching for the door handle.

"Wouldn't you like to know how I figured you out? It could come in handy later while you're still _pretending_," he offered, smirking back at Derek who stilled.

Turning to him, Derek shook his head. "I don't know if you fell asleep while playing some kind of weird RPG on your computer or if you happened to hit your head today, but whatever you think you've been seeing, you're wrong. Casey and me are the same as we always are and you're just delusional," he told him, his expression mocking.

"Casey and I," he corrected, his mouth turning up in a smirk. "For a guy who gets top marks in English, Derek, you really missed that one." Crossing his arms, he chuckled lightly. "I always knew something like this would happen. From the moment I started watching you two, two years ago, I just knew--"

"You've been watching us for _two years_?" Casey exclaimed, looking completely shocked and angry. "Do you have any idea how much a breach of privacy that is? I mean, what gives you the right--" She advanced on him, her body taut with indignation. Derek watched, making no move to stop her, amusement written clearly in his expression.

"Whoa!" Sheldon said, backing up a step as she came toward him. He held his hands up defensively and Derek laughed at his lack of courage. "Hold on. I can explain. I wasn't like... like peeking in on you-- _them--_ or anything. I was... making a documentary about high school students. The friendships, the hardships, the relationships and drama!" he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he turned his head to the side and acted as though he were some big shot director thinking back to his latest film. "It was going to be my breakthrough piece! I learned everything I could about my subjects and I taped their lives as they were here at school. Not everything; just trying to capture certain moments. To learn how they think, what they do, how they feel. About school, about friends, about life in general. See, I _know_ Casey and Derek." He frowned, turning back to them, his eyes hooded. "Which is why I know that you two are not the subjects I've been taping in the past," he accused, shaking his head.

Derek kept his calm exterior going, staring at Schlepper like he was crazy. "And you got permission to do this from..." He shook his head questioningly.

"Well... to tell the subjects would completely diminish the point. The real people would become actors and that would make it null. Choreographed drivel. Nobody would care!" he reminded, his eyes wide.

"Let's say, hypothetically, that you're correct in assuming something so... _ludicrous_," Casey started and Derek tugged on her hair, frowning down at her, but she ignored him. "What makes you think that _we_ are not who we say and _look_ like who we are?"

Sheldon shook his head, waving a hand. "You two have obvious differences from the real Casey and Derek. They may not seem noticeable to the untrained eye, but those people out there are only little characters in your lives. I see them. I saw Casey and Derek for who they really are. Those people that wave and nod and hug you, they don't know you. If they did, they would have caught on to the fact that this impostor is always holding your hand. But the real Derek hardly ever held Casey's hand. He always wrapped his arm around her waist, hand firmly placed on her lower hip. And Casey always has her hand over Derek's ribs. It's how they always were together. Constantly touching, always holding each other. That and you sat separately during break. Sure you were touching her, saw that hand on the thigh action, but Casey usually sits up close to Derek, leaning into his side, her head on his shoulder. It's behavior that they've perfected over their year and a half relationship," he told them very seriously.

"Year and a half," Derek repeated, his brows coming together as he looked down at her.

Sighing, Casey nodded up at him, her shoulders shrugging as she tried to figure out why she had heard different.

"See. You don't know your facts. _Derek_ would have known that. Wouldn't have had to question that," Sheldon told him, nodding at the justification. "Plus, you smirked at a group of girls this afternoon!" he pointed out, his eyes wide.

"So?" Derek asked, frowning.

"So?" Sheldon laughed at the word. "The real Derek would never _smirk _at other girls. Smile politely, sure. Wave, nod, but never the infamous Venturi smirk." He shook his head, eyes wide at Derek as if he'd utterly some sort of blasphemy. Guy totally needed a life. One that didn't revolve around him and Casey. Sheldon waved a hand, as if stating the bare facts, no possible alternative. "It is widely known that he is completely monogamous to Casey. Ever since the big choosing match a year and a half ago--"

"Choosing match?" Casey asked, her interest peaked.

"Stop encouraging him," Derek hissed.

Sheldon grinned. "I _knew_ it."

Sighing, Casey shook his head. "Have you ever seen the movie, "The Family Man"?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Case, he's a guy, why would he--"

"Of course," Sheldon said, nodding. "Who hasn't? Nicholas Cage is a phenomenal actor."

"Okay, I take that back. He's not a guy, he's a total chick," Derek muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Right. So, this is sort of, at least we think, like that movie. See, we woke up this morning and well, everything was completely different. In... _our_ world, Derek and I aren't together. We're... We're just not. We don't really get along, even." She shrugged on shoulder, twisting her hands together. "And our families are completely different too. Here, my mom is with this guy that's a total health freak and she's kind of strict. She has all these problems with me and she doesn't think anything like the mom I'm used to." She shook her head, "And Derek's family is completely the opposite. They're dark and quiet and not at all as insane as they used to be. And well..." Casey sighed, "The point is, no we're not _your_ Derek and Casey, but we are a form of them. We just, we made this like... this _wish_ and when we woke up, it came true. We don't know how long it'll last or why it worked, but... Here we are." She shrugged, letting out a strained chuckle.

Derek frowned, running a hand through his hair and watching Sheldon's shocked expression. He was waiting for him to freak out, run maybe, or just start screaming that they were insane. He was a pretty scrawny guy, Derek decided, he could knock him out if worst came to worst.

"Wow," Sheldon said, his eyes wide. "This is so..."

"Crazy, I know," Casey murmured.

"COOL!" Sheldon told them, giggling in a completely unmanly way.

They looked at each other and then at Sheldon, brows cocked. "Are you done?" he asked as Sheldon continued to laugh to himself almost hysterically while shaking his head in amazement.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah! Sorry, I just... I didn't think you'd admit it," he said, grinning widely. "Okay, so... in your world am I like... Am I devilishly handsome or incredibly cool or anything?"

"Uh.. No... You're exactly like how you are here," Casey replied, shaking her head. Derek laughed, amused that she hadn't realized she had just insulted him.

"Oh..." Sheldon's face fell.

"You're not student body president like you wanted to be, but—"

"I'm not?" he asked, his expression shocked and upset. "But... But I come from a _long_ line of Schlepper presidents!"

"We know," Derek replied, rolling his eyes. "Is there anything else we should try _not_ doing so that nobody else realizes we're not exactly who they think we are? We don't know how long we'll be around and I'd rather not spend it explaining myself or sitting in a psych ward somewhere." Crossing his arms, he leaned against a wall, avoiding the wires and old, dusty projector nearby.

"Oh! Uh, yes, hold on." Turning, he began looking through things. "I have... Somewhere... I made... You can..." He was rifling through a stack of black, marked cases and talking half to himself and half to them. "UH HAH!" he exclaimed, turning to them. "Okay, I have DVD's made up from the very beginning. How you met, the relationships you had before getting together--"

"So, we didn't get together right away?" Casey asked, her brows bunched in confusion.

"No, Casey and Derek were friends for the first half of the year. Best friends, actually. Yeah, they played the biggest pranks and hung out together all the time." He nodded. "That's how she met Sam, who she dated for a couple months. They didn't go out for awhile though. Derek didn't want Sam dating Casey and she wasn't sure if it was right because they were both his best friends. Everybody thought it was really because Casey and Derek liked each other, though. Casey was the only girl to hold Derek's attention for longer than an afternoon. He gave in though, told them they could date." He shook his head and Derek tried to process what Sheldon was telling them. "Problem was, after a month or two, Sam still felt like Derek was getting in the way. Instead of going out for dates with Sam, Casey would go over to Derek's to watch a hockey game or hang out. They'd throw parties at his place that they wouldn't tell Sam about until the night it was happening and play host together instead of hanging out with him. In the end, Sam said Derek was trying to get in between the relationship. That he was purposely blocking Sam so he couldn't really be with Casey. So, one day in the cafeteria, while Casey and Derek were talking and Sam was being left out because he wasn't there for that particular prank or whatever, Sam got fed up. He called Derek out on it and Derek denied it. There was a bit of a fight and eventually Sam told her to choose. She chose Derek and he and Sam weren't friends after that. The semester break happened a week later and when Derek and Casey came back, they were together. Have been ever since."

He nodded, motioning to Derek. "That was another sign. You tried talking to Sam like he was still your best friend and _didn't_ pull a prank. Sam was sure that you'd just pull it later but you looked like you had no idea what he was talking about. The real Derek pulls pranks on Sam every once in awhile. It was supposed to be this big apology thing, I guess. But it didn't turn out that way. Sam didn't get over it and Derek got annoyed that Sam was being such a... well his words were that Sam was being a "girl" about it." He shrugged.

Derek sighed, glancing over at Casey. She picked _him_ over _Sam_? He wasn't so sure that would've happened in _their_ world, but it was ego boosting all the same. Best friends though, wasn't that a little much? In their world they were almost enemies. They hardly ever got along. Sure they had their moments, but they were few and far between. Was it really only because they were forced into being step-siblings? Maybe it was all just them trying to act out against their feelings. He knew he wanted her. Had for awhile. Sure, he'd been disappointed that a girl who was so obviously attractive ended up living in his house and being labeled off limits, but if she hadn't been would he really have had such a long relationship with her?

"Anyway," Sheldon interrupted his thought process. "I have DVD recordings of everything I've found over the last couple years and I'd be willing to let you borrow them. Only for a little while though. I can't afford to leave them in your care for too long. You could revert back to your world and then I'd have to explain myself to the _real_ Casey and Derek, who obviously wouldn't appreciate my directorial skills." He shrugged, stuffing an armload of DVD's into a backpack and then handing it to them. Casey took it, the bag weighing her arms down until they were drooping by her legs. Snickering, Derek took it out of her hands and put the strap around his shoulder.

"How many hours to you have of us?" Casey asked, her expression displaying barely concealed disgust.

Sheldon cleared his throat. "It was important that I get as much as I possibly could. I've used high tech cameras at some points. They cost a serious penny. Had to get them all off the Internet." His brows rose, emphasizing his point.

"Why were we your subjects?" Derek wondered, half-frowning.

"Well, Casey and Derek are the most popular couple in the school. I figured their interaction with each other was intriguing. Some people wonder if it's just a ranking game," he admitted. Noticing Casey's confused expression, he explained. "They think that they were only together because they were both so popular. They met on her first day and Casey was new, but noticeably attractive," he said, letting out a soft chuckle and blushing slightly. "It surprised everybody when Derek and she didn't start dating right away. Their friendship was interesting, to say the least. Derek's grades picked up and he seemed more approachable to some because his best friend was a girl. So naturally, he was getting a lot of face time with some of the most attractive girls in the school. They saw him as understanding and feeling, even though he hadn't really changed." Sheldon shook his head, laughing to himself. "Then when they started dating, which was something people were expecting, students started wondering if it was more out of keeping up appearance than anything. Girls were jealous, guys were kind of annoyed that Derek got the girl _again_, and because they were such good friend, some wondered if they'd make it. There were rumors for awhile that they weren't really dating or that they'd been fighting a lot. But honestly, during the entire time I watched them, they were a great couple. They relied on each other, talked about things, had fun whenever they wanted to. They really loved each other."

He shrugged, "You two have a lot of similarities with them. There were times when I doubted whether I was seeing something out of place or not. You have obvious chemistry and you looked exactly like them, so... But, there was just something missing. Something not quite there yet. Maybe it was because the Casey and Derek I know had two years to fall in love and get used to each other, but I could tell you weren't them."

Scratching his neck, he continued. "Anyway, I figured, why not pick the two most popular students? They'd probably have the most drama. They're obviously the most attractive. Plus, they had a certain _je ne sais quoi._ They were funny, charismatic, personable. People could relate to them because they were real. Notably, they had rather cliché places in the school. Derek, the hockey captain, and Casey the head cheerleader--

"The what?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Uh, head cheerleader," Sheldon repeated, lifting a brow. "You weren't one in your world?"

Derek couldn't help it, he laughed. "Klutzilla? A cheerleader?"

"Klutzilla?" Sheldon asked, his brow fused.

Casey looked ecstatic. "You don't recognize it? It never happened here?" She clasped her hands together, probably to keep from clapping, and turned a grin on Derek, who rolled his eyes.

"Uh, no. Why? What does it mean?" he asked, shaking his head.

"Nothing!" Casey replied quickly, shaking her head.

"Casey's not the most stable person when walking, running, breathing," Derek replied, smirking.

"OH! You mean like when she first got here?" he asked, his eyes wide.

Casey's face fell.

"Nobody saw it but me," Sheldon told her hastily. "I noticed it on the tapes. She was a little clumsy. Tripped sometimes when coming out of class to meet Derek or just generally in Derek's vicinity. He caught her though. Always put his arm around her or grabbed her before anybody else could notice. People thought they were just really touchy, but when I watched the tapes I could see her feet usually stumbled over each other or she was in such a hurry she wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings."

Derek turned to Casey, his brow furrowed. "Thought that only happened when you had a crush on someone."

"It did," she murmured, biting her lip. "Guess this Casey liked you from the beginning."

Derek's mouth curled in a smirk. He _so_ knew it! _No_ girl could resist him. Coming out of his smug stupor, he returned his attention to Casey and Schlepper who were discussing when the DVD's had to be returned. Finally, they'd agreed that Casey would make sure to return them by the following Monday so that if they were too busy after school, they could sit down and watch them all on the weekend. She had to assure Schlepper that she would mark them to be returned without watching so that if she and Derek did return to_ their_ world, the "real" Casey would return the DVD's and there would be nothing to worry about. Schlepper still looked excited about what he found out and Derek worried that he might spill the secret just so he could be the one to tell. Not that anybody would probably believe him, but still. Derek unfortunately got the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time he got trapped in a weird room with Schlepper asking odd questions.

A few minutes later, they were finally on their way out, with Derek grumbling that all the pizza would either be gone or cold. Most of the other students were in the cafeteria or sitting on benches, talking and finishing up with their lunches. Derek took Schlepper's advice and wrapped his arm around Casey, resting his hand on her lower hip. Knowing what he was doing, Casey's hand moved to wrap around his ribs. She seemed rather stiff at first, her body not as relaxed as it usually was when they walked. But after a few steps, she became more comfortable, leaning into him and squeezing his side as they walked down the hallway. Derek couldn't help but wonder if anybody else had noticed any differences. Were they questioning them? Were their eyes trained on them now, keeping with every move they made? He felt like everybody's eyes were following him, like they were talking about how he wasn't really _him_. Casey's hand ran up and down his side, as if knowing what he was thinking and trying to comfort him.

"He was the only one, Derek. Nobody else noticed anything. Our families maybe. Although I think my mom just thought I was being stubborn," she told him, tilting her head so she could speak quietly.

"How many mistakes have we already made though?" he asked, shaking his head, his jaw tightening. "Could that affect _our_ world, or...?"

"I don't know," she admitted, shifting closer, her hip bumping his. "All we can do is try our best. Tonight, we'll watch the movies and-- Shoot, uh... I can't watch them tonight." She bit her lip, shaking her head.

"What? Why?" Derek asked, shaking his head.

"I promised mom that I would be home for dinner tonight. She said not to bring you, because you don't get along with Darrel. I don't want to antagonize them." Sighing, she shrugged her shoulder. "We could watch it tomorrow, after school," she offered, screwing up her face in apology.

"No. No way am I going through this again," he told her, his brows high with emphasis. "I feel like they can all tell we're not who we say we are. I don't know half the people coming up to me, but most of them talk to me like we've been buddies for awhile," he reminded, frowning. "It's gotta be tonight. I need to know who these people are before I start talking to them again. Couldn't you just call and tell her you can't make it?" His hand tightened around her hip, suddenly not wanting to be separated from her. What was he going to do when he got home? He didn't know how to talk to the family there. They weren't who he was used to. And how was he going to act around Kelly? How much did the other Derek hate her? Was it really obvious?

Casey let out a heavy sigh as they walked through the double doors leading to the cafeteria. They made their way to the non-existent line and Derek got a couple pieces of cold pizza, a Pepsi, and a bag of chips, while Casey bought a sandwich and a bottle of juice. They walked over to sit down at their usual table, which was noticeably empty and continued their quiet conversation. Casey sat at an angle so she could wrap her legs around one of Derek's. He half-smirked, rather amused, but didn't say anything. Unwrapping her sandwich, Casey held back her disgusted expression as Derek heartily dug into his pizza, his eyes fluttering with gratitude at how incredibly good it tasted.

"Okay," she said, unscrewing the cap of her juice. "I could come over _after_ dinner. We eat at six, so I could be over at around seven. Can you pick me up or should I get a ride? Bus? What?" she asked, lifting her egg salad sandwich to her mouth and watching him.

With a large gob of pizza sitting inside his mouth, pushing out his cheek, Derek spoke around it. "Yeah. Sounds good. I'll be over at seven to pick you up. We could probably watch one after we pick up Marti, too."

"Have you figured out how we're both getting out of Calculus early yet?" she asked, sipping her strawberry-kiwi drink.

Derek snorted, stuffing a few chips into his mouth. "I _know_ how I'm getting out. Just have to tell the teacher that I'm the only one who can pick up my sister from her school and he'll let me out. You though..." He shook his head, eyes wide. "No idea."

"You're supposed to be the King of Lies, and you're the one who promised I'd come along. So it's your mess, you have to figure a way out of it for me." Casey went back to her lunch and Derek watched as she nibbled at the sandwich, tearing small pieces off instead of just stuffing it into her mouth like he would have. She chewed it carefully, while he would have swallowed it after only a couple chews, just enough to make sure it would go down without choking him. She was sitting with her back straight, her elbows nowhere near the tabletop, while he was hunched over, elbows on either side of his plate. He felt her foot rub his calf and glanced at her, she was looking around the cafeteria, apparently unaware of what she was doing.

Glancing at the clock, he frowned at how little time was left. He searched his mind for a way to get Casey out of class with him. He couldn't begin to imagine Marti's downtrodden expression if he showed up without her. Casey turned to say something to him, but just as her mouth opened the blonde from earlier suddenly showed up at their table. She didn't have any food with her, but her makeup looked like it had been refreshed. She sat down with a bright smile, her eyes straying to Derek for a moment longer than needed and he felt like frowning. Did the other Casey know that her little best friend wanted her boyfriend? The blonde girl was chattering excitedly, her voice rather high pitched and her hand playing with her hair, fake nails threading through the straight blonde strands as she tipped her head and told Casey all about some guy she met in Toronto. Derek got the feeling that Casey, in this world or not, probably didn't like the girl. She seemed too fake, too overdone, and way to giggly. He knew for a fact his Casey didn't, because her smile couldn't get anymore strained.

He spotted Sam across the caf and nearly nodded to him until he remembered they weren't friends. Sam was sitting with a couple guys from the team, they were laughing about something and Derek couldn't help but feel like he was being left out. From what he could tell, the alterna-Derek's life was mostly compiled of Casey. If what Schlepper said was true, then the alterna-them were very close and entirely in love. He couldn't help but wonder what his own life would be like if he had that. That person who was always there, unwaveringly. Somebody to talk to, to understand him, to be there for him when things got to be too overwhelming. He imagined alterna-Derek needed Casey a lot. What with the way his family had turned out and the fact that his best friend was no longer holding the position he'd had since he and Sam were just little kids.

He tried to figure out whose life was better. His or alterna-Derek's. He had the family, that was for sure. A father who was really around, a brother who worshiped him, a little sister with so much spark she could light a fire just by smiling. Sure, they didn't have a Lexus just for him, but he could live without that. And school wasn't half bad either. He didn't get the grades, but he was beyond popular. The guys all wanted to be him and the girls all wanted to make out with him. He had hockey and a great social life, so he wasn't really having any problems in his life. But this Derek, he had great grades, the same level of, if not more popularity, and a girlfriend who was apparently his perfect fit. Would his life really be better if Nora and his dad had never met? There were obvious downsides. Was Casey worth the hardships at home? It had only been one day. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought. It _was_ the first day of school, that warranted some bad moods for all parties. Maybe it wasn't a natural occurrence for his brother to be in such a dark mood, his sister to be so sad, and his dad to be such a forgetful jerk. And maybe his step-mom wasn't horrible, and Derek just held a grudge, like he did with Casey and the other MacDonalds. He'd have to wait and see.

The bell rang in the background and the blonde shot up from her chair. He spotted the necklace around her throat, fake jewels shaped to say, "Desiree." She had a few bracelets on, each of them bright colours and shimmering beneath the dull cafeteria lights. She was a toucher, he noticed. Always reaching out to put her hand on Casey's or squeeze her arm when she thought something was funny. After throwing out their garbage, Derek fell into step beside Casey, wrapping his arm around her and finding a familiar comfort as her hand fell on his side. Maybe the other them had the right idea. As they walked, Desiree continued talking to Casey, not appearing to care that she wasn't getting much of a response.

"So, you know, she totally bought the shoes! I kept telling her, Jessie, they make your calves look fat, but she just wouldn't listen." She shook her head, her brows lifting high incredulously. "Hey! We should go shopping sometime soon. Like maybe this weekend, huh?" she suggested, grinning hugely.

Casey's hand dug into his side and she shook her head, trying to look apologetic but really looking more worried than anything. "Uh, not this weekend. I... um... I don't think I can go shopping because..."

"We've got plans. All weekend. Movies, a couch, just us, you know how it is," Derek told her, half-smiling in her direction.

Desiree stared up at him, her eyes wide and her mouth wavering in her cheery smile. She seemed mesmerized for a moment, before she finally cleared her throat and nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure. No prob! I love your top, Casey. Where'd you get it?" she said in a rush.

"Uh, I'm not sure. Can't remember," Casey replied, shrugging her shoulder and looking over at Derek for some way to get rid of her.

"Oh, I have the same problem!" Desiree exclaimed. "I have _so_ many clothes, I just can't remember where they all came from." She laughed, high and grating. "So, like, what class do you have now? I have Foods! I'm_ so_ bad at cooking, but it's an easy mark, so..."

"We have Calculus," Casey told her, nodding slowly. "We better get there quickly, too, we've got to talk to the teacher."

Desiree didn't take the hint, she followed them to their locker and hung around as they got their binders together. "I'm surprised you guys haven't gotten in trouble for sharing a locker all this time," she commented, nodding. "Usually, that secretary gets on everybody's case about sharing lockers. I tried sharing with my friend Bren, but we got caught within the week and I was moved to one of the _worst_ lockers in the school!" She rolled her eyes, looking annoyed. 'Two years and still going, though. Lucky or what?" Derek glanced at Casey, who looked visibly relieved that she decided to share a locker with him early on.

Desiree waved at somebody passing by and started walking with them again as they locked it up and continued on their way to Calculus class.

"Aren't you going to be late?" Derek asked, getting annoyed with her presence. He hadn't realized how much he liked his and Casey's quiet time together. Walking to classes had been just them, some conversation, and a kiss goodbye depending on whether they had the class together, but now he had to put up with Desiree's running commentary on everything. He wondered if the other Derek had the same problem.

Desiree simply shrugged off his question and started talking about some of the other students attire, joking about a few of the younger girls and how awful they looked. He was actually _happy_ when they arrived at their class, even though he knew he'd be doing equations for the next hour.

Casey slumped against him as they walked in, looking beyond relieved not to have Desiree hanging around. "I don't how she puts up with her," she muttered, shaking her head.

Derek nodded agreeably and stopped by the teacher's desk. A Mr. Everest sat behind the long, wood desk, reading through a book with his glasses sitting low on his large nose. Derek explained that he needed to pick up his sister after school and since she got out a half hour early, that he would need to leave early. Casey took a deep breath beside him, looking flustered as she got ready to explain that she too needed to go but Mr. Everest cut her off. "Let me guess. You too need to go, for a reason you'll sputter out and I'll finally take pity on you and just let you leave." He half-smiled, shaking his head. "Casey, do I need to remind you how bad you are at lying?" He chuckled. "It's the first day, so I don't need to tell you that I don't want this becoming a regular thing in future. Since both of you are two of my favorite students." He pointed at them with a chubby finger, "I'll deny it if you tell anyone. I'll let you off today. Just make sure you get the homework written down and I don't want any excuses come tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Derek said, grinning as he nodded to the teacher and directed Casey to a seat in the middle row with his hand placed firmly on the small of her back. She sat in front of him again, and while he did pay attention to what was going on, simply because he was sure if he stopped listening for a moment he'd never figure out what he was doing, he also found he enjoyed playing with her hair. It was long, soft and hanging across his desk. When he wasn't writing down notes or listening to Mr. Everest's explanations, he found his fingers wrapping around the dark brown strands, letting it slip through his fingers and over his palm. She sat back farther, letting her hair fall more onto his desk. He didn't know if she did it on purpose, but he enjoyed it all the same. There was a faint floral shampoo scent that wafted up from it, warming his senses.

He glanced around to see if anybody noticed his moment of sappiness, only to find a girl across the aisle watching his hands, a half-smile on her face. She was pretty, with light brown hair, a few freckles, and bright green eyes. She realized he'd caught her and looked up, her cheeks flushing and her eyes widening slightly. She smiled at him, looking more nervous than the flirtatious she was trying for. Instead of a smirk, like he thought would appear, he found a small smile and then turned his attention back to Casey's hair. He tugged on it and she tipped her head enough to look at him, her brow lifting and her mouth quirking. He suddenly felt the urge to kiss her and had to remind himself that he was in class and it was all just a show for everyone. He winked at her, telling himself that he didn't really wish that his world was just a little more like this one. That he didn't really want to hold her like he did when they walked through the halls, or play with her hair like he was now. He assured himself that he preferred the other world, where they hated each other. But as she sat back up and her hair delicately trailed across his palms, he admitted, if only for those three seconds, that his life would be a little better with Casey there to fill it.

oTBCo

**A/N** _Expect an update to "**For Marti**," very, **very** soon. I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry for such a late update._ _Be sure to review, I'd really like to know what you think!_

o**BDT**o


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